The Tri-City Americans pulled off a massive upset, winning 4-3 against Portland to start the final weekend of the season and end an eight-game losing streak in a game that honored the Tri-City Youth Hockey Association with specialty jerseys.
Tri-City netminder Kyle Kelsey played a big part in that as Kyle played possibly one of the best games of his career to even give Tri-City a sniff at winning, stopping 49 shots.
Deagan McMillan of Tri-City got the Rockus crowd of 5,300 going early, at 7:53 in the first period, to open the scoring.
Along the boards, Portland Winterhawks Alternate Captain Jack O’Brian swatted the puck toward the slot. With nobody home, Deagan McMillan skated up from behind the net and took a spinning shot that startled Winterhawk goalie Jan Spunar, who reacted late, leading to the puck going under the glove and in.
The Winterhawks sparked a late surge in the first period and tied the game at 15:25.
Portland were able to crash the net and cash in the prize. Josh Zakreski snapped a shot from beyond the right circle that bounced off Kelsey out net-front. Diego Buttazzoni then took several hacks at the loose puck before it eventually trickled in.
Portland then got their first lead of the night not long after the tying goal with just over a minute left in the first period.
Yet again, the Winterhawks fired a long ball and crashed the net. This time, from the left circle, Tyson Jugnauth slowly skated in and fired a wrister that Kelsey initially saved. Marcus Nguyen was able to snag the rebound and push it past Kelsey’s pad to make it 2-1 Portland.
After a period of play, the Winterhawks led 2-1 and were outshooting Tri-City 17-5.
Cruz Pavao, the fifteen-year-old affiliate player and 2023 first-round pick of Tri-City, tied the game a little under nine minutes into the second for his fourth goal in six WHL Games.
Tri-City said that two could play that game and crashed the net for their own goal. On the power play, Jordan Gavin snaked in towards the net from the right circle before firing a wrist shot that went off the shoulder of Jan Spunar right to the young Cruz Pavao. Pavao didn’t waste any time and smacked the puck in from close quarters to make it 2-2.
The hard-working Mason Finley scored his much-deserved first goal of the season, giving Tri-City the lead back just a minute after the Pavao goal.
Mason Finley streaked into the Portland Zone along the boards. Finley then fired a sharp-angled shot before cutting behind the net. Spunar, who thought Finley was going behind the net, moved off the post for just a split second and gave the puck just enough room to squeak in, making it 3-2 Tri-City.
After two highly contested periods, Tri-City clung on to a 3-2 lead, and Portland dominated the shot category, outshooting Tri-City 33-10.
With time ticking down in the third period and Tri-City barely clinging onto their lead late, much like last week in Spokane, Portland broke through and tied the game.
At 16:31 in the third period, Diego Buttazzoni toe-dragged into the slot and cranked a wrist shot off of Kyle Kelsey’s pad that redirected to Josh Zakreski, who was streaking to the net. Zakreski then banged home the rebound to make it 3-3.
The final horn then sounded, and the fans at the Toyota Center would be treated with some free hockey.
Halfway through overtime, Tri-City’s losing streak would come to an end.
Jordan Gavin received a stretch-ice pass from overager Parker Bell. Gavin then walked in on a partial breakaway forehanded. Gavin then switched to backhand, muscling by a Portland defender and flipping the puck past the sprawled-out Jan Spunar to blow the roof off the building.
With their win, Tri-City is 23-40-2-1 on the season. To close out home play for the season, Tri-City will play one more game against the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday, March 23rd. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 