The Tri-City Americans put the past behind them again and were able to steal a win in the third period from Kamloops 5-2 Saturday night. Parker Bell had a three-point night, and Lukas Matecha made 23 saves.
Dylan Sedor got the show started at the Toyota Center this Saturday night, scoring seven minutes into the first period. Sedor finished a 2-on-1 cross-crease pass from Shea Van Olm. Tri-City would get some late-period puck luck. McMillan fired a prayer from the right wing, and it bounced off a Kamloops defender’s skate and into the net. This would send the teams into the break tied at one each.
The Seattle Kraken draft pick Lukas Dragicevic helped give the Ams their first lead of the night five minutes into the second period. Dragicevic was able to sneak a shot through the traffic from the point getting his second goal of the year. Kamloops would answer back though as hard-working Ashton Ferster of the Kamloops Blazers dug a puck out behind the net and threw it out front for Andrew Thomson who banged it home to tie the game up at two.
The third period is where things began to ramp up for the Americans, and where they would score three unanswered goals to claim victory. Ashton Tait was given a Slew-Footing penalty, which resulted in a double minor. The cold Americans’ power play arose from the dead. Gavin received a pass from Parker Bell at the front of the net and faked a shot, going backhand as Dylan Ernst took the bait leaving most of the net wide open.
A good forecheck by Camerin Cardona at 9:05 in the third period would be all she wrote in Saturday night’s contest. As Cardona was able to force a Kamloops defender to muff the puck up behind the net, trickling to Nick Anisimovic at the front of the net where he was able to skate around the goalie Dylan Ernst and find the back of the net for his first career WHL goal. Parker Bell would also score on an empty net at 16:55 using his great speed to beat a Kamloops defender to the puck.
Northwest Sports Desk 