WHL Tri-City Americans

Americans Snap Skid, Win 5-3 in Everett

Published on March 5, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release


EVERETT, WA. For the Tri-City Americans (31-31-2-1, 65 pts), essentially every game is a playoff game right now. With 7 games left on the regular season schedule, every point is crucial. Saturday night in Everett, The Americans earned a very important 2 points against the Everett Silvertips (36-22-4-3, 79 pts) by winning 5-3 at the XFINITY Arena in front of 5,901 fans.

The Americans have struggled over the last few games to set the tone early. They have been outscored 5-2 in the 1st period of the last 3 games, and have gone 0-3 in that stretch. The team knew how important it was to score and control the pace from the get-go. Tonight it was mission accomplished. The Americans would open the scoring just over 5 minutes into the game. Michael Rasmussen scored his 16th of the season and 3rd in his last 3 games just after Tri-City killed of its first penalty. One minute and 23 seconds later was all it would take for Tri-City to add to that lead, as Jordan Topping netted his 30th of the season. It was the first time in 4-games that the Americans have held a 2 goal lead. Everett was not without their chances in the first, peppering Tri-City goalie Nicholas Sanders with 17 shots, but Sanders stood firm and the Americans headed to the 1st intermission with the 2-0 lead.

Special teams have been a big factor lately for the Americans. Early in the 2nd period, it looked like it might be their achilles heel again. After Vladislav Lukin was sent to the box for roughing, Silvertips left-winger Matt Fonteyne cut the Americans lead to 1 with his 14th of the season. Just past the halfway point of the period, the Silvertips tied it up after center Dario Winkler scored on the power play to tie up the contest. Exactly 1 minute later, Fonteyne scored his second of the contest and suddenly it was Everett that held the lead. Fortunately, that lead only lasted for just over 2 minutes. Americans right-winger Tyler Sandhu scored a beautiful highlight reel goal as he gained the Everett blue-line and skated in all alone to the net before tucking in his 18th goal of the season between the pipe and the pad of Everett net minder Carter Hart. Just over a minute later, Americans center Morgan Geekie added his 11th of the season, and Tri-City was back on top 4-3 headed to the 2nd intermission.

The 3rd period was filled with tremendous chances and great goaltending for both teams. Both Sanders and Hart kept their teams in it with some amazing saves. It was Sandhu, however, who put the icing on the cake with his 2nd goal of the game, en empty-netter, to seal the deal and give the Americans a huge victory as they wrapped up their 4 game U.S. Division road trip. Sanders stopped 36 of the 39 shots he faced for the win, while Hart stopped 20 of the 25 shots he faced for the loss. The Americans went 0-for-1 on the power play and had 8 minutes of penalty time. The Silvertips were 2-for-4 with the man advantage and had 2 minutes of penalty time.

With the win, the Americans now sit 4 points back of the rival Spokane Chiefs (30-26-5-4, 69 pts) for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Americans will head home and finish up the season with 6-of-their-7 final games on home ice. The first of those games will be Sunday evening against the Seattle Thunderbirds (39-23-3-0, 81 pts) at the Toyota Center in Kennewick. Game time is 5:05pm. Seattle won the last meeting, in Kent, 7-2 on March 1st. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, including the Toyota Center Box Office, at any Fred Meyer outlet or online at Ticketmaster.com.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 5, 2016


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