KENNEWICK -- When it comes to Tri-City and Spokane, one overtime is never enough.
Tyler Schmidt scored at 2:32 of double overtime to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-3 victory Thursday night over the Spokane Chiefs at Toyota Center, tying their Western Conference semifinal series at 2.
Schmidt, who sat out Game 3 after being suspended by the WHL for a clipping major in Game 2, scored his first goal of the playoffs and his first-game winner of the season.
"It felt good to get that overtime winner," said Schmidt, whose shot came from the top of the slot. "I've never had one before in my career. After sitting out, you want to get back out there. I got lucky at the end. We needed this win."
Game 5 is Sunday at Toyota Center, while Game 6 is Tuesday at Spokane Arena.
Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said his team had plenty of chances to put the game away, but didn't get the job done.
"We had it in overtime, double overtime," Nachbaur said. "It came down to a testament of character and will. They were blocking everything and we didn't do that on the game-winning goals. Guys didn't pay the price. You want to go on to the next round, you've got to pay the price. Plain and simple."
The Americans won the first game of the series in Spokane, but were outplayed the next two games to fall behind in the series. On Thursday, the effort was there.
"It was an outstanding game," Tri-City coach Jim Hiller said. "We didn't play well the last game and we didn't feel good about ourselves. I'm proud of them."
Tied at 3 at the end of regulation, the teams went to the first overtime, where Tri-City goaltender Drew Owsley made some dandy saves at one end, and Spokane's James Reid stopped a penalty shot by Brendan Shinnimin at 18:36 to keep the game going.
Shinnimin, whose goal in the second gave Tri-City a 3-2 lead, broke free up ice, cut between defenders Jared Cowen and Brenden Kichton, and was hauled down by Kichton before he got to the net, bringing the penalty shot.
"I thought both goalies were really good," Hiller said. "If you look at those two, that's why this game went to so long."
Owsley finished with 47 saves, while Reid had 46.
Down 2-0 early in the second period after Spokane's Tyler Johnson scored a short-handed goal, the Americans rallied for three goals in a span of 11 minutes to take a 3-2 lead.
Working on the first of three power plays in the second, Patrick Holland found an open net behind Reid at 5:49 to answer Johnson's goal 33 seconds earlier.
"That was a key moment," Hiller said. "That goal was deflating, but we bounced back. The building came alive and we pushed forward."
Kruise Reddick tied the game at 2, benefiting from Carter Ashton's hard work.
Ashton tracked down a puck in the left corner, blindly sent it out front where it appeared to ricochet off Jordan Messier's skate and onto Reddick's stick at the top of the crease. Reddick beat Reid at 10:58 for his second goal of the playoffs.
The Americans took their first lead since the opening game at 16:32 as Adam Hughesman held up with the puck at the left point. Seconds later, he hit Shinnimin streaking down the right lane and Shinnimin buried the puck from the top of the circle.
Owsley made an impressive save at 18:12, laying out and putting his stick down at the right post to stop a shot by Dominik Uher.
Johnson scored his second of the night at 12:17 of the third on the power play, lifting a rebound into the upper left corner of the net to tie the game and send it into overtime.
A missed icing call by the officials led to the Chiefs first goal late in the first period.
Uher lifted the puck out of the Spokane zone at his own blue line and the puck slid down the ice. Video replay showed the puck was not touched by an Americans player.
The Americans, believing an icing call was coming, headed for a line change, leaving defenseman Matt MacKenzie and Owsley back to defend the zone.
Uher made it down the ice and took a pass out of the corner from Steven Kuhn and put a shot on goal at the left post. Owsley made a nice save and committed to Kuhn and the puck, but Kuhn made a pass out front to Uher, who was able to get the puck past MacKenzie at 16:33, who was trying to cover the front of the net.
* Annie Fowler: 509-582-1574; afowler@tricityherald.com
