CALGARY, Alberta -- The Tri-City Americans have gone from winning 13 consecutive games to winning just three of their last 10 games after a 4-1 loss Sunday to the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Ams (35-12-1-1, 72 points) failed to pull even with Kamloops (74 points), or jump ahead of Edmonton (72), in the race for the Scotty Munro trophy.
Calgary (31-17-2-1, 65 points) pulled ahead of idle Medicine Hat and into third place in the Eastern Conference.
Working off one of their games in hand on Kamloops, Edmonton and Portland, the Americans let a 1-0 lead slip away in the second period as the Hitmen scored twice in a span of 29 seconds.
Tri-City opened the scoring at 4:21 of the second with a goal by rookie Brian Williams.
Calgary tied the score at 16:21 on the power play with a goal by Brady Brassart, and on the bump-up shift, Danny Gayle gave the Hitmen the lead for good at 16:50.
Alex Gogolev and Chase Clayton added goals in the third for Calgary, which has won six in a row.
Ty Rimmer finished with 31 saves for the Americans. His goals against average jumped to 2.26, but he still has the best numbers in the league.
Americans forward Adam Hughesman, who has won in every rink in the WHL but hasn't scored a point in Calgary or Swift Current, was held scoreless.
Former Tri-City goalie Chris Driedger, facing his former team for the first time since an off-season trade sent him to Calgary, stopped 16 of 17 shots. Driedger was invited to play in the Top Prospects Game on Wednesday in Kelowna, British Columbia.
