It took 43 minutes and 41 seconds for the Tri-City Americans to get their act together Friday night, and once they did, the game took on a whole new look.
Tri-City scored three goals in a span of 1:26 early in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit and hand the Chilliwack Bruins a 4-2 loss in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series at Toyota Center.
"They are a good team," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller of the Bruins. "No surprise there. They came out and executed well. This is the playoffs and it's hard to get ice. When you win, you know you played well."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is tonight at Toyota Center. The series shifts to Chilliwack for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Chilliwack coach Marc Habscheid was proud of how his team played, but was not pleased with the officiating.
"Tri-City is a good team, but it's frustrating for our guys when they embellish when we touch them," Habscheid said. "Our leading scorer gets speared and (Kevin) Sundher gets hit in the head and no call. It's a seven-game series -- we'll show up tomorrow."
The Bruins came out with a solid game plan, cutting off passing lanes, limiting second shots and playing physical hockey against the smaller Americans. And it was worked well in protecting their 1-0 lead until Kruise Reddick found an open net behind Chilliwack goalie Lucas Gore at 3:41 of the third.
"They played a very solid game from goalie out to the forwards," Reddick said. "Every shift was a battle. I don't think we were in the game at the start and they weren't letting us in. I think that goal may have gotten the monkey off our backs."
Just 37 seconds later, Johnny Lazo gave the Americans a 2-1 lead as the puck appeared to get caught up in Gore's equipment and fell out in the net.
Neal Prokop finished off the three-goal barrage at 5:07, picking up a rebound in the slot and burying the puck for a 3-1 lead, prompting Habscheid to use his one timeout.
Tri-City continued its torrid pace, getting a goal from Sergei Drozd at 7:44 for a 4-1 lead. Gore had made a nice skate save on Drozd's first shot, but Drozd gathered his own rebound for his first postseason goal.
Ryan Howse added a late power-play goal for the Bruins, but it wasn't enough to get them back in the game.
Drew Owsley, who missed the last eight games of the regular season with a concussion, stopped 33 of 35 shots for the Americans.
"I was nervous coming in, but once I touched the puck I settled down a bit," Owsley said. "They came out hard -- give credit to them -- but we picked it up in the third. I knew we had it in us, we'd scored in bunches this year."
Gore stopped 26 shots through two period for Chilliwack, and finished with 33 saves.
Chilliwack made the most of its one power play in the first period as Dylen McKinlay picked up a rebound and slipped the puck behind Owsley at the right post to take a 1-0 lead at 11:45.
Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Americans tried to get back in the game early in the second as Jordan Messier took a pass up ice from Johnny Lazo and headed to the net. Messier was taken down and ended up in the net, but no call made on the play.
At 14:48, Brooks Macek looked to have evened the score at 1 goal apiece, but after video review, it was deemed the net was off its moorings, and Macek put the puck in with his hand. Macek did finish with pair of assists.
