The Tri-City Americans lost yet again Friday Night 4-1 to the Prince George Cougars at home. Lukas Matecha stopped 39 of 41 against the top team in the Western Conference—the other two goals coming by way of an empty net.
Tri-City started off the night promising, scoring their only goal of the game six minutes into the first period. Jordan Gavin walked in on the right faceoff circle and shot it by Joshua Ravensbergen’s glove to make it 1-0 Tri-City.
The score stood 1-0 Tri-City after one period of play. Shots were 14-12 in favor of Prince George.
Just as Tri-City had thought they had fought off the almighty Prince George Cougars in the second period, a controversial goal occurred. The end-of-period buzzer went off, causing all American players to stop playing even though there were still 40 seconds left. However, Zac Funk kept playing and scored. The goal was reviewed and deemed a good goal.
After two periods of play, the score was 1-1, and shots were 26-18 in favor of Prince George.
Prince George would strike again late in the period, scoring three goals in the game’s last five minutes to snatch a win in Tri-City. Zac Funk got his second goal of the night on the powerplay following an Andrew Fan kneeing penalty.
Any chance of a Tri-City comeback would subside after Zac Funk threw the puck into the empty net, completing the hat trick and sending the fans home with just two minutes remaining in the game.
Tri-City would keep fighting, but Prince George would get yet another empty-net goal with just a minute left in regulation this time. Riley Heidt tossed it into an empty net and made it 4-1 Prince George.
Tri-City simply shot themselves in the foot, going 0-4 on the powerplay and not creating many quality scoring chances. Instead, cycling the puck for the majority of the powerplay when given the opportunity and limiting shots. Meanwhile, Prince George went 2-2 on the powerplay and made Tri-City pay when given the opportunity.
With their loss, Tri-City moves to 13-10-2. Tri-City will try to end their losing streak on Dec. 2 against the Vancouver Giants, with puck drop at 6:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 