KENNEWICK -- Mark Stone and the Brandon Wheat Kings are for real.
Stone, the WHL scoring leader, added to his total Friday night, handing out two assists in helping the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans before a crowd of 3,697 at Toyota Center.
"It was a good hockey game," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, whose team lost on home ice for the first time in five games. "They have a real mobile defense and they didn't give us much. We just didn't have a lot of offensive zone time."
Stone, who assisted on Brandon's first and third goals, has 20 points in eight games.
"I just want to be successful," said Stone, who had 106 points last season. "I'm here to win hockey games, that's my goal. Anytime you can produce and help your team win, that makes it better."
The Americans (6-3-0-0, 12 points) will host Vancouver (4-4-0-1, 9 points) tonight. The Giants are coming off a 3-2 loss to Seattle on Friday.
Brandon (5-2-0-1, 11 points), two games into their trek through the U.S. Division, are at Portland tonight.
The Wheat Kings held a 3-2 lead going into the third, and goalie Liam Liston, making his first start in nearly two weeks, kept a tight seal on the net. Liston finished with 29 saves, including 11 in the third.
"I felt we played our game," said Brandon coach Cory Clouston. "We didn't get ourselves into too much trouble. We made them work for what the got. They are a good team and we worked at taking away their strengths. They are an explosive and dangerous team and we knew we had to be solid in the neutral zone."
Entering the second period with a 2-1 deficit, the Americans wasted no time in knotting the score as Drydn Dow took a pass from Patrick Holland and beat Liston just 2:29 into the period for his first goal of the season.
"Holly made a great play and I saw the left corner was open, Dow said. "I give him credit for that one."
A poorly defended face-off by Tri-City led to Brandon's game-winning goal at 7:36 of the second.
Tyrel Seaman won the face-off, sliding the puck out to Stone. Stone gave the puck back to Seaman, who found daylight next to Eric Comrie for his second goal of the season.
What started out as a chess match in the early going of the first period, the action soon heated up as Brandon's Alessio Bertaggia was awarded a penalty shot at 11:45.
Comrie read the play from the start, gloving the puck and negating the Wheat Kings' first penalty shot of the season.
Comrie may have denied the penalty shot, but the Wheat Kings found the net twice later in the period, the first coming off their vaunted power play, which was a stellar 44.4 percent before the game.
Brandon needed just six seconds on the man advantage, as Pulock pulled the puck into the slot and beat Comrie at 13:11.
"I felt pretty good out there, but they are a good team," Comrie said. "I thought we played pretty well. Sometimes it just doesn't go your way."
The Americans thought they tied the game 1 1/2 minutes later with their first power play, but Malte Stromwall's goal was negated after video replay showed the puck was kicked into the net.
No worries.
Stromwall found the net at 16:58, taking a pass up ice from Sam Grist. He maneuvered around Spencer Galbraith at mid-ice and went down the right lane, where he blasted the puck high over Liston's glove.
Brandon finished the scoring in the first as Pulock picked up a loose puck and beat Comrie from the top of the left circle.
"You always want to win, but it doesn't always go your way," Hiller said. "We have to put this behind us and get ready for Vancouver."
