KENNEWICK, WA - In the old Looney Tunes cartoons, no matter how hard he tried, Wile E. Coyote could never seem to catch the Road Runner. On Saturday night, the same could be said about the Thunderbirds and Johnny Lazo.
Nicknamed ‘The Roadrunner,' Lazo recorded his first-career hat trick, including the game-winner at 2:32 of overtime, to lead the Tri-City Americans (11-5-0-1, 23 pts) to a 5-4 win over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds (4-11-0-1, 9 pts) in front 4,003 fans at Toyota Center. With the win, the Americans snapped their season-high three-game losing streak and returned to their winning ways at home. Meanwhile, the T'birds dropped to 0-3 against Tri-City this season and have lost five of their last six games against the Americans.
In their three meetings thus far this season, Tri-City has relied on heavy first-period pressure against the T'birds and Saturday's contest proved to be no different. The Americans outshot the T'birds 14 to 5 in the first period, scoring four times on Seattle netminder Calvin Pickard. And, it was Lazo that electrified the crowd first. Midway through the first period and on the penalty kill, Brett Plouffe broke out Lazo, who went top shelf, over Pickard, for the 1-0 lead. It was the third shorthanded goal for Tri-City this season, who led the League in shorthanded goals last season (8).
At the 14:19 mark of the first period, Tri-City received a bit of a break during a scramble in front of the Seattle net. Pickard made the initial save on Eric Mestery's shot, but the puck found its way behind him. Reese was able to put just enough on the loose puck to have it trickle across the goal line as Pickard dived into his net to try and make the save. For Reese, it was his 12th goal of the season and his eighth goal in his last 12 games. Nearly two and a half minutes later, rookie Brooks Macek found the back of the net for the first time in his WHL career and gave the Americans a 3-0 lead. Then, with 2:09 remaining in the period and on the power play, Lazo capped the scoring in the period, sending Tri-City to the locker room up 4-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.
However, much like their previous meeting, Seattle began to chip away at the Tri-City lead and work their way back into the contest. The T'birds started their comeback at 4:25 of the second period, when Jeremy Boyer beat Tri-City starter Chet Pickard. Twelve and a half minutes later, Thomas Hickey followed it up with a power play goal of his own, cutting the deficit to 4-2 headed into the second intermission.
Midway through the third period, Seattle's Jim O'Brien-Sena Acolatse-Jonathan Parker line connected twice in a five minute span to eventually tie the game at 4-apeice. However, Seattle could not get that elusive fifth goal and the game would go to overtime. After Mestery took a Delay of the Game penalty with 35 seconds remaining in regulation, the Tri-City penalty killing units held off the T'birds through the first 1:09 of overtime, when Seattle's Gregg Scott was called for Goaltender Interference and eventually put Tri-City on the power play and set the stage for Lazo and company.
In the end, older brother Chet got the better of Calvin, stopping 36 shots in route to his ninth win of the season. Meanwhile, little brother Calvin collected 27 saves in the loss. Tri-City finished 2-for-7 on the power play and went 7-of-8 on the penalty kill. After a slow start, Seattle outshot the Americans 32 to 13 over the final 40 minutes of regulation and finished with a 40-32 shot advantage in the contest.
The Americans will now take a bit of a breather before they hit the ice for a stretch of four games in six days. First up is the B.C. Division's Kelowna Rockets, who visit Toyota Center on Tuesday, November 4. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Tri-City won the first match-up in the four-game series between the two clubs, a 5-2 win back on September 20 in Kennewick. The Americans have won nine straight games against the Rockets, including their last five at home. Tickets are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, including the Toyota Center box office, all Fred Meyer outlets, or online at ticketmaster.com. Those unable to make it to the game can catch all the action live on NewsTalk 870 AM, starting with the Sterling Savings Bank Warm-up Show at 6:45 p.m.
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