WHL Tri-City Americans

Beach's Hat Trick Propels Chiefs Past Tri-City 4-3 In Ot

Published on February 14, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release


SPOKANE, WA - Johnny Lazo may have been the man of the moment, but Kyle Beach was the man of the hour.

With 3.2 seconds remaining in regulation, Lazo tied Saturday's contest at 3. But, with 48 seconds left in overtime, Beach completed a hat trick to push the Spokane Chiefs (34-20-3-1, 72 pts) past the visiting Tri-City Americans (39-15-1-2, 81 pts) 4-3 in front of 10,530 fans at Veterans Memorial Arena. With the win, the Chiefs stretched their current winning streak to three games while also taking the last three match-ups with Tri-City. Meanwhile, despite their best efforts, Tri-City's losing streak hit a season-high three games and dropped to 3-4-1-0 through eight games of the 12-game season series with Spokane. The two rivals will meet again a week from tonight in Kennewick.

It didn't take long for the Chiefs to put the Americans into an early hole. Just 48 seconds into the contest, Tyler Johnson caught Tri-City starter Alexander Pechurskiy cheating too much at the near post, beating him shelf on the glove side for the 1-0 lead.

But, after hitting the post twice in the first five minutes, Mason Wilgosh outmuscled Beach off the wall 23 seconds later, firing a shot off James Reid's glove that rolled across the goal line to tie the game.

However, Beach was heard from four minutes later, as Mitch Wahl's rebound went into the far corner. From there, Beach gathered up the puck and glanced a shot off Pechurskiy's shoulder and into the net. The goal chased Pechurskiy from the game after allowing two goals on seven shots. Then, less than three minutes into the second period and on the power play, Beach counted again. This time, he let a wrist shot go from the right circle that beat back-up Drew Owsley up over the glove and put the Chiefs on top 3-1.

Down but not out, Tri-City began to rally late into the second period. While on the power play, Sergei Drozd got Reid to commit across the crease then buried a shot to pull the Americans to within one. After several more close calls throughout the night, Tri-City was down to its final seconds, hoping to salvage at least one point in the standings.

With 11 seconds remaining, they got their chance after a Spokane icing call set the stage down in the Chiefs' zone. Tri-City won the ensuing face-off, as the puck wound up on the stick of Justin Feser, who quickly fired it on net. Four Americans then crashed the net, hoping to knock in a rebound. Finally, with 3.2 seconds remaining, the puck found Lazo's stick, who was able to push it through Reid's pads and across the line. The play was reviewed multiple times by the video goal judge, who upheld the goal and sent the game to overtime.

Since his entry into the game, Owsley had made big save after big save, keeping the Americans in the contest. Early in the overtime period, he made another one when Wahl got around the Tri-City defense, creating a 2-on-1 chance with Beach. Wahl elected to shoot himself and was robbed by Owsley, who grabbed the puck with his glove as he lunged across the crease. But, the same duo hooked up again, this time with 48 seconds remaining in overtime, to eventually net the game-winner. Owsley made the initial save on Wahl's shot, but his momentum spun his body out of the crease. The puck, which was under him at the time of the save, sat there exposed on the goal line for Beach to tap in to win the game.

Owsley, who was credited with the overtime loss, and Pechurskiy combined to stop 38 saves on 42 shots. Meanwhile, Reid collected a season-high 43 saves on 46 shots faced to notch his 28th win of the season. The Americans finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Chiefs were 1-for-4 on the man-advantage.

Tri-City, who is 1-2-1-0 through four games of their six games in eight nights stretch, will now head home for Game 5 as the face-off against the B.C. Division's Kamloops Blazers. Game time is 5:05 p.m. at Toyota Center. Kamloops, coming off a come-from-behind shootout win over Kelowna on Saturday, comes in with a 3-3 record over their last six games. Meanwhile, Tri-City will look to avoid stretching their losing streak any further against an opponent they are 3-0 against this season and have outscored 21 to 5 in the process. Tickets are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, including the Toyota Center box office, all Fred Meyer locations, or online at ticketmaster.com. The game will also be broadcast live on NewsTalk 870 AM, starting with the Sterling Savings Bank Warm-up Show at 4:45 p.m.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2010


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