The Tri-City Americans lost another tight matchup to the Victoria Royals 4-3 on the Royals Teddy Bear Toss night. Victoria swept the weekend, and now both teams will enjoy a Christmas break.
From the start, Tri-City looked like they would avenge Friday night’s gut-wrenching loss after putting up three goals in the first period. Alex Serraglio started the scoring, netting his second goal of the season. Serraglio fired a harmless shot from the point that went off a Victoria Royal defender’s skate and in.
Jordan Gavin would double the lead eight minutes into the first period. Gavin received a slick pass from Jake Sloan to walk in on a breakaway and bury it home to make it 2-0 Tri-City.
Victoria Royal netminder Jayden Kraus made a fatal mistake behind the net, playing the puck right to Jake Sloan, who passed it right out front to Carter MacAdams to make it 3-0 Tri-City. That was Sloan’s third assist of the game.
With just under ten seconds left in the first period, Dawson Pasternak freed himself from American defenseman Ethan Peters and fired home a one-timer from the slot. The shot went right by Lukas Matecha’s mask, and the bears were tossed onto the ice.
Shots after one period of play were 11-8 in favor of Tri-City.
From the Pasternak goal onwards, Victoria controlled the game. Four minutes into the second period, Cole Reschny of the Victoria Royals received a cross-crease pass from Dawson Pasternak on the powerplay and tapped it in to make it a one-goal game.
Logan Pickford tied the game up and got his fifth goal of the season halfway through the second period. Pickford was left alone at the front of the net, and Tanner Scott was able to hit him up from behind the net, where Pickford would bang it home.
Two minutes later, Dawson Pasternak would get his second goal of the game. Pasternak showed extreme patience working his way into the slot. Pasternak faked multiple shots before throwing it in the back of the net to give Victoria the lead.
Shots after two periods of play were 15-24 in favor of Victoria.
The third period showed another surge from the Americans like the night prior. However, there were no goals to show for it. Jayden Kraus made a great screened save off a Jackson Smith one-timer with just a few minutes left in the game to keep Victoria in front.
With their loss, Tri-City moves to 15-14-2. Tri-City will now enter Christmas break but will be back on Wednesday, Dec. 27, as they host the Portland Winterhawks at 7:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 