Americans End Slide with Shootout Win over Seattle
WHL Tri-City Americans

Americans End Slide with Shootout Win over Seattle

Published on March 7, 2026 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release


Kennewick, WA - The Tri-City Americans (26-29-4-1) ended their 12-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds (25-26-5-3) at the Toyota Center Friday night.

Seattle opened the scoring on a power play 9:49 into the game. Cameron Schmidt took a pass in the slot before feeding the puck towards the net for Matthew Gard. Taking the pass on his forehand, Gard quickly pulled the puck to his backhand and slid it past Xavier Wendt just 10 seconds into the power play.

Tri-City responded quickly to tie the game. Savin Virk and Jake Gudelj worked a give-and-go play, with Virk firing a wrist shot past Grayson Malinoski for his 25th of the season.

The goal sparked the Americans who came out flying on the next shift, looking for the lead, but play transitioned into the Tri-City zone and Seattle regained the lead.

After a long shift in their own end, the Americans were unable to clear the puck as the Thunderbirds kept up the pressure. Eventually Matej Pekar took a long shot through traffic that sailed over Xavier Wendt's shoulder to give Seattle a 2-1 lead with 2:12 left in the first.

Tri-City trailed 2-1 heading into the second with the shots 16-10 Seattle.

Early in the second the Americans tied the game. Gudelj let a hard shot go off the rush, catching Malinoski off guard as the shot from distance beat him clean, tying the game at two just 1:45 into the period.

The Americans power play went to work for the first time 7:19 into the middle frame, and Alexander Laing gave Tri-City their first lead of the night. After being robbed by Malinoski's left pad on his initial chance, Laing gathered his own rebound and slid it home for his sixth of the year, putting the Americans up 3-2.

The lead didn't hold for long, however, as Seattle tied it up four minutes later. Noah Kosick gained the Americans line and created a two-on-one rush, sliding the puck to Schmidt who was racing toward the back post. Schmidt tied the game with his league-leading 44th goal of the season.

With the game still tied 3-3 past the halfway mark of the third, the Americans went to another power play. This time it was Virk who took a cross-crease pass from Grady Martin, firing home his second of the night to put Tri-City ahead 4-3 with 8:09 to play.

Seattle was given another power play with under two minutes to play, and Coster Dunn made it count by scoring on the six-on-four chance with Malinoski on the bench for the extra attacker. The goal came with 1:19 left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.

Despite the two teams combining for nine shots in the five-minute overtime, neither found the back of the goal as a shootout was necessary to find a winner.

Cruz Pavao led off the shootout by scoring, keeping his career record in shootouts perfect as he is now six-for-six. Cameron Schmidt missed the net on his chance before Virk put the Americans up 2-0 with a goal in round two.

Noah Kosick was the last chance for Seattle to extend the game, but his shot hit the crossbar behind Wendt, sealing the 5-4 win for the Americans.

The two teams meet again Saturday at 6:05 at the Accesso Showare Center.

Announced attendance was 5,002.

Check out the Tri-City Americans Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 7, 2026


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