The Tri-City Americans fell Saturday night in the second game of the home-in-home series this weekend between the Spokane Chiefs. This time, on the road in a huge playoff-implication game. Spokane also honored the billet families of Chief players before the game with a special video and pregame ceremony.
Mimicking last night, the Americans got a goal early in the game on the power play. Following a Shea Van Olm roughing penalty, Jake Sloan stayed hot and got his fifth goal in the past three games and twenty-third of the season at 6:38 in the first period.
Sloan, skating at the point, fired a wrister that weaved through traffic. Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan seemed not to even react to the shot, and Tri-City quieted the 8000 fans in Spokane early.
Spokane did not take kindly to the early Americans’ goal and went on a firestorm, scoring three goals in the span of three minutes to take a 3-1 lead.
The first came from Chase Bertholet for his nineteenth goal of the season at 11:18.
Following a shot by Berkly Catton, Bertholet gathered the rebound and chipped the puck over the shoulder of American goalie Kyle Kelsey to even the game up.
Spokane gained the lead for the first time just a minute after the Bertholet goal at 12:38.
Rasmus Ekstrom was lurking at the right faceoff circle. The puck bounced right to Ekstrom after a Ty Chevyldayoff shot at the mid-point. Ekstrom fired a quick wrister and snuck the puck by Kyle Kelsey’s five-hole.
At 14:32, Chase Harrington scored a beauty of a goal on the backhand. Cameron Parr skated into the zone and fired a cross-ice pass to Harrington. Harrington then dragged the puck backhanded and flipped it over Kyle Kelsey’s shoulder to make it 3-1 Spokane.
Harrington’s goal led Tri-City to use their only timeout early to slow things down. The timeout paid dividends for Tri-City, and the Americans escaped unscathed for the rest of the period.
Shots after one period of play were 13-6 in favor of Spokane.
Tri-City came flying out of the gates in the second period, scoring just 43 seconds in. Brandon Whynott worked tirelessly and plucked the puck away from a Chiefs defender on the boards.
Whynott then spun around and found no other than the red-hot Jake Sloan all alone. Sloan picked the outside post and went bardown on the helpless Dawson Cowan to make it a one-goal game and give Tri-City a lifeline for his second goal of the game.
“It’s great, but I just want to thank my teammates really,” Jake Sloan said post-game when asked about hitting the 150-point mark in his WHL Career and the key to him being able to score six goals in three games.
After a turnover in the Tri-City zone, Hayden Paupanakis worked the puck out front to Cam Parr at 11:05. Parr deked out Kelsey from close quarters and flipped the puck by Kelsey’s outstretched glove, making it 4-2 Spokane.
“Paupanakis, Parr, and Harrington especially stood out tonight, in my opinion,” Spokane Chiefs’ Ryan Smith stated post-game. “Those three really just played the right way and contributed with goals or assists. It’s also great when you can get complimentary scoring like that.”
Yet again, Tri-City notched another power-play goal. This following a Connor Roulette tripping penalty.
Mason Finley received a pass from Parker Bell along the boards and backhanded the puck to the slot where Jordan Gavin was waiting. Gavin then fired a wrister that trickled over the pad of Cowan and made it a one-goal game.
Tri-City notched their third power-play goal of the game after a Rasmus Ekstrom tripping penalty late in the second period.
Jackson Smith walked in on the left faceoff circle uncontested by the Chiefs defenders and went bardown on Dawson Cowan to tie the game 4-4 at 19:26 in the second period unassisted.
“We have to stay more disciplined.” Ryan Smith also stated post-game when asked about the penalty troubles. “Obviously, we don’t have much time to work on things because of a Monday Afternoon game, but just stay more disciplined. I think some of the penalties were warranted tonight, but some were not. The penalties cost us last night and cost us a little bit tonight.”
Following two periods of play, shots were 26-18 in favor of Spokane. Tri-City would start the third period on the power play as well.
Spokane regained the lead and made it 5-4 just four minutes into the third period.
Brayden Crampton fired a slap shot from the point. The puck bounced right off of Kelsey’s pad to the stick of Carter Streek. Streek swatted the puck in, and just like that, Spokane was back in front.
Following the Crampton goal, Jake Sloan missed out on a hat trick by mere inches. Sloan received a cross-crease pass and went backhand. Sloan then had an empty net out front and tossed it off the bar.
Spokane quickly capitalized off Sloan’s critical error and made it 6-4 at 6:43 in the third period.
Berkly Catton found Connor Roulette behind the net. Roulette quickly wrapped it around Kyle Kelsey, who was still pivoting to the post, and went five-hole on Kelsey. Roulette was the sixth different Chief goal scorer of the evening.
Tri-City would wrap the game up essentially for Spokane after Lukas Dragicevic knocked the helmet off of a Spokane Chiefs player for a roughing penalty. Dragicevic kept mouthing off to the ref and was ejected with just over a minute left in the game.
“You just got to keep moving forward.” Americans head coach Stu Barnes said post-game following the Chiefs 6-4 win. “Really, it’s just what we have been telling our guys all season. You have to focus on the next game. Try to get the next game; you can’t do anything about it now, so just keep focusing on the next one.”
With their loss, Tri-City move to 21-30-2-1. Tri-City will now travel to Kelowna for a Presidents Day clash on Monday. Puck drop in Kelowna is set for 2:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 