Americans Blitz 'Hawks Behind Three-Goal First Minute
February 24, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release
KENNEWICK, WA - Tuesday's game at Toyota Center had a little something for everyone. But, most importantly, it had two points going to the Tri-City Americans.
Behind three goals in the first 52 seconds of the game, the Tri-City Americans (42-17-1-2, 87 pts) blew open Tuesday's game, downing the visiting Portland Winterhawks (38-23-2-1, 79 pts) 6-0 in front of 3,901 fans at the Toyota Center. With the win, the Americans snapped their two-game home losing skid while collecting their ninth shutout win of the season. Meanwhile, Portland has now lost three of their last four games and fell to 1-7 vs. Tri-City this season. A week from today, the two squads will meet again in Portland.
Although the WHL record books do not include such a stat, it is believed that the Americans at least set a new franchise mark with the quickest three goals to start a contest. However, despite being separated by just 25 seconds, the League record stands at 12 seconds, which was set by the Kelowna Rockets on Feb. 17, 1996 vs. the Prince George Cougars.
Fans had barely found their seats when Justin Feser got the scoring started at the 0:27 mark. After Tyler Schmidt picked up a Portland turnover near center ice, Neal Prokop found Feser in the high slot, who fired a wrist shot low on the blocker of Mac Carruth. Thirteen seconds later, Johnny Lazo wrapped in a Kruise Reddick rebound to make it 2-0. Finally, Mason Wilgosh made it 3-0 when he beat Carruth from inside the slot, chasing him from the contest. Carruth, who gave way to Ian Curtis, finished the night with 1 save on 4 shots faced.
The second period belonged to Portland, outshooting Tri-City 18 to 5 after being outshot 17 to 4 through the first 20 minutes. However, Portland, who had three of their four power play opportunities in the second period, could get nothing past Alexander Pechurskiy and the Tri-City defense. Meanwhile, while on the power play at the 7:36 mark of the period, Pechurskiy broke out Kruise Reddick, who fed the puck to Jordan Messier in the high slot. From there, Messier fired a shot off the blocker of Curtis and into the net, making it a 4-0 game.
Just past the midway point of the game, fans were holding their breath as Portland's Eric Doyle laid motionless on the ice for a few minutes after being hit by Todd Kennedy. With some help, Doyle was able to leave the ice on his own but, it set the tone for the remainder of the game as things digressed from there. The teams combined for 147 penalty minutes on 37 infractions in the contest, with 131 of those penalty minutes coming after Kennedy's hit.
Tri-City, however, kept plugging away and, just 1:38 into the third period and on the power play, quickly made it 5-0. Cleaning up a Brett Plouffe shot, Messier connected again, this time lifting the rebound over Curtis for his 19th goal of the season. Then, seven minutes later and playing 5-on-3, Feser tallied again to wrap-up the scoring in the contest.
Pechurskiy, who made several big saves throughout the night, stopped all 31 shots he faced to preserve his fourth shutout in just his 17th WHL game. Meanwhile, Curtis ended the night with 30 saves on 33 shots in relief. Tri-City finished the night 3-for-13 on the power play and was a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Now with a couple of days to prepare, the Americans will look towards a pivotal three-game weekend which starts on Friday, February 26 against the Everett Silvertips. Game time is 7:35 p.m. at Comcast Arena. Tri-City currently leads the eight-game season series 4-2-0-1 but two of those three loses have come in their last two meetings with Everett. Since returning from the Winter Break, all three games between the two teams have been decided by just one goal. The Americans come in having dropped their last two road games while Everett has won 12 of their last 13 games at Comcast Arena. Fans can catch all the action live, via WHL WebTV, at the Americans' home away from home, Kimo's Sports Café in Richland. The game will also be broadcast live on NewsTalk 870 AM, starting with the Sterling Savings Bank Warm-up Show at 7:15 p.m.
Applebee's 3 Stars:
1, Alexander Pechurskiy, Tri-City
2, Justin Feser, Tri-City
3, Jordan Messier, Tri-City
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