The Tri-City Americans lost 6-3 at home Saturday night. Yet again, the Americans collapsed all within the third period. The Giants scored four straight unanswered goals to win in the third period. Carter MacAdams got his first goal as an American.
Vancouver opened scoring in the game and scored 44 seconds on the first shot. While many people were still looking for their seats. Halaburda was streaking towards the net, and Adam Titbalch hit a sweet saucer pass over two American defenders to find Halaburda. Halaburda buried the puck in and made it 1-0 Vancouver early.
Tri-City would respond twelve minutes later. Max Curran dropped the puck off behind to his trailer, Lukas Dragicevic, who would walk in at the left faceoff circle and go bardown on Vancouver Giant goalie Matthew Hutchinson to tie the game at 1.
The score after one period of play was 1-1. Shots were 12-7 in favor of Tri-City.
Cash Koch would cash in his second goal of the season twelve minutes into the second period. The puck trickled out at the front of the net, eluding Vancouver defensemen. Koch was left alone and went backhand over Matthew Hutchinson’s glove, making it 2-1 Tri-City.
Vancouver would keep things tied going into the third period. Samuel Honzak walked in on a partial breakaway and shot it glove side on Kelsey. Honzak’s first goal of the season tied the game at two aside.
The score after two periods was 2-2. Shots were 28-14 in favor of Tri-City.
Four minutes into the third period, Carter MacAdams would get his first goal as an American and get the Yota rocking. MacAdams tipped the puck right in front of the net, evading Matthew Hutchinson’s pad to give the Americans a 3-2 lead.
From there on out, Vancouver would dominate play. Scoring four goals in the last ten minutes of the game. On the powerplay, Jaden Lipinski grabbed the rebound off his own shot and did a quick wrap-around on American goaltender Kyle Kelsey to tie the game at three ten minutes in.
Cameron Schmidt would give the Giants the lead two minutes later on the power play with a bit of luck shooting the puck from a tight angle at the side of the net where it somehow trickled in. This would give the Giants a 4-3 lead.
Ty Halaburda would get his second goal of the night three minutes after Cameron Schmidt’s goal and quiet the rallying Tri-City fans.
Samuel Honzek would get his second goal of the night and seal the game for the Giants with one minute remaining on an empty net.
With their loss, Tri-City move to 13-11-2. Tri-City will try to close the weekend with a win on Sunday, Dec. 3rd, against the Wenatchee Wild. Puck drop is set for 4:00 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 