The Tri-City Americans fell 5-1 on their only game of the weekend after a dominating second period of play saw the Chiefs score three goals Friday Evening in Spokane.
Spokane got the period’s only goal as time expired after both teams had a flurry of chances in the first period. Nathan Mayes of Spokane got his first career WHL goal, and it was sure one to remember after a shot from the right circle with 0.3 seconds left. Rasmus Ekstrom and former Kamloops Blazer Shea Van Olm shared assists on the buzzer-beater.
“I almost blacked out on the ice,” Mayes said. “It was incredible, just incredible.”
Shots were almost dead even after one period of play being 13-12 in favor of Spokane.
Spokane controlled the second period convincingly. Berkly Catton, a projected top pick in the upcoming NHL Draft, opened up a 2-0 lead for Spokane 3:29 into the second period for his first goal of the game. Catton burst through the seam of multiple American defenders and lobbed a backhand effort with the puck over Lukas Matecha’s shoulder.
Former Kamloops Blazer, now Chief Shea Van Olm, got his sixteenth goal of the season and made it 3-0 Spokane at 7:51 in the second period. Van Olm banged the puck five-hole on Matecha following the rebound off a shot from Nathan Mayes.
The sixteen-year-old phenom Cash Koch got Tri-City on the board a little over halfway through the second period at 11:41 for the lone Tri-City goal of the period. From a sharp angle at the left circle, Koch sneaked it by Cowan on the near post to remove any shutout thoughts lurking in the arena.
Tri-City shot themselves in the foot with just under a minute left in the second period. After a Rasmus Ekstrom roughing penalty, Connor Roulette and Berkly Catton broke away for a short-handed two-on-one. Roulette sauced the puck over to Berkly Catton who was streaking towards the net. Catton banged home a goal through Matecha’s five-hole to make it now 4-1 Spokane.
“It’s really all just back to the drawing board,” said head coach Stu Barnes about the Tri-City power play woes that have been lurking around the team all season.
On Friday night, The Americans went 0-2 on the power play while also giving up a short-handed goal.
Shots after two periods of play were 30-16 in favor of Spokane. Spokane played picture-perfect defense, limiting Tri-City to only four shots on goal.
Spokane went right back to work starting the third period. Connor Roulette got a goal of his own at 1:18 after jamming the puck short-side past Lukas Matecha to make it a convincing Spokane lead at 5-1.
That would be all she wrote as Spokane would go on to close out the game and win 5-1. Spokane’s defense shined yet again, holding the Americans to just six shots in the third period.
“It was a huge win for us.” Ryan Smith said post-game following the Chiefs 5-1 win.
Smith also stated that the value of the defense is going to become more critical. ” You can’t score five goals every game, especially as the season draws closer to an end, so we have to keep valuing the defense.”
Even though Tri-City lost 5-1, some positives came out of the game in the eyes of the American’s head coach, Stu Barnes. “I really liked how we created chances early, although we didn’t score. I also noticed that some of our skill players were able to take the game into their own hands as the game got to its closing stages.”
With their loss, Tri-City is now on the ropes regarding the playoffs. Spokane holds the eighth and final seed and has a three-game advantage and three-point advantage over Tri-City following tonight’s 5-1 Loss. Tri-City now moves to 19-29-2-1.
Tri-City will now return home for a Tuesday night tilt against the Seattle Thunderbirds with puck drop at 7:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 