Tri-City lost 6-4 to the Calgary Hitmen Sunday afternoon after juggling away a lead with less than two minutes left. Lukas Matecha made up for Friday Night’s terror, stopping 46 of 50 shots. Jordan Gavin also had a three-point night.
David Adasynzky of the Calgary Hitmen opened scoring at 8:10 in the first period on the power play. Adasynzky received a pass at the left faceoff circle and fired the puck by Matecha’s glove.
Carter MacAdams, with just under a minute left in the first period, tied the game. On the power play, McMillan fired a wrister from the slot and was tipped five-hole by MacAdams to make it 1-1.
After one period of play, it was a shot fest and favored 18-17 Tri-City.
Calgary took little time to get the lead back. Ethan Moore scored the second power-play goal of the night for the Hitmen. Moore walked in on the right wing and snuck it by Lukas Matecha’s glove 2:17 into the second period. Matecha looked pretty disappointed as he thought he had tracked the puck well.
Lukas Dragicevic tied the game yet again five minutes into the second period. Dragicevic walked in on the left wing and snuck it under the glove of Calgary Hitmen Goalie Ethan Buenaventura.
Shots after two periods of play were 32-29 in favor of Tri-City.
Tri-City came out of a cannon to start the third period, scoring 47 seconds in. Jake Sloan gave Tri-City their first lead of the night. Sloan gathered the rebound off of a Jordan Gavin shot and shoved it past the pad of Buenaventura to make it 3-2 Tri-City.
Fraser Leonard of the Calgary Hitmen got his third goal of the season to tie the game just over halfway through the third period.
On the power play, Jordan Gavin gave Tri-City their lead back with just five minutes left in the game. Gavin nabbed a cross-crease pass from Brandon Whynott and went backhand over the shoulder of Buenaventura.
Tri-City has had some issues with holding leads earlier this season. That was put to the test again tonight, and Tri-City failed again. Calgary went on to score three straight unanswered goals with less than a minute and 40 seconds left in the game.
Carter Yakemchuk tied the game just seconds after Calgary pulled their goalie. Yakemchuk, from the point, fired a slapshot that went by the mask of Lukas Matecha to make the score even at 4-4.
Ethan Moore would get his tenth goal of the season and go-ahead goal with just over a minute left in the game for his second goal of the game. Moore walked in on the right wing and snuck it by Lukas Matecha’s blocker on the far post.
Keets Fawcett would add one more for Calgary by way of an empty net with under thirty seconds left in the game.
With their loss, Tri-City move to 16-21-3. Tri-City is now done with the Central Division road trip going 1-5 and will return home to face Seattle on Jan. 19th. Tri-City is set to wear specialty night jerseys, and it is fan appreciation night. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 