Tri-City Americans making last push for playoffs

Nine games remaining, 18 points up for grabs. The Tri-City Americans need every last point they can scrape together as their run for a playoff spot gets shorter by the day.

The Americans (30-30-2-1, 63 points), who are coming off two road losses, are back on the bus Friday for a game in Portland, followed by a Saturday game in Everett. They wrap up their three-game weekend hosting Seattle on Sunday.

They will finish the season playing five of their last six games on home ice.

“Every game that goes by, they all become more and more important,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “We were in a position both games to get points. Obviously, the Seattle one (a 7-2 loss) got away from us. We were in a good spot tied in the second and a one-goal game going into the third. The Everett game really hurt. It was a tie game with a few minutes left. There’s nothing we can do about those now. We have a couple of big road games here, and then a string of a bunch of home games to finish the season. We just have to win our share.”

Tri-City trails No. 8 Spokane by four points, No. 7 Portland by five and No. 6 Kamloops by six. The Americans play Spokane twice more, Portland once and Kamloops once. They host Kelowna, which has the second-best record in the Western Hockey League, on March 13.

“We can’t expect to get anything free,” Williamson said. “Every club is playing for something. Someone is jockeying for home ice, position in the playoffs, a division championship, or whatever it is. We are going to see everyone’s best. I think over the last couple of months, we’ve shown we can play with anyone. We just have to make sure we get off to good starts and everyone is ready to contribute.”

The Americans have been pretty successful since their return from Christmas break. They were 7-5-0-0 in January and 8-4-1-0 in February. But the Western Conference, especially the U.S. Division, has been tight all year. Division-leading Everett has a one-point lead over Seattle and a 15-point lead over Tri-City.

“It’s tight. Usually by Christmas time, you see one or two teams almost out of it; maybe they make a last gasp to try and make the playoffs,” Williamson said. “It has been tight this year, especially our division. It is extremely difficult to get points and win games. We don’t have much left now. We have to find a way to win games.”

Training room

Americans defenseman Juuso Välimäki was a full participant in practice Thursday, and Williamson said they hope to have him in the lineup this weekend. Välimäki was hurt Feb. 12 in a game in Lethbridge. He has missed nine games.

Prospects update

Tri-City prospects Ryan O’Reilly and Jaxon Nelson were invited to USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Evaluation Camp. The camp, which will help select the 2016-17 U.S. National Under-17 Team, will take place March 18-22 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich.

O’Reilly, the younger brother of Americans defenseman Brendan O’Reilly, was a fifth-round selection in the 2015 WHL bantam draft. A 6-foot, 183-pound forward, he plays for the Dallas Stars U16. In 30 regular-season games, he had 14 goals and eight assists.

Nelson, from Magnolia, Minn., was a seventh-round pick last year. A 6-4, 192-pound forward, he had 70 goals and 43 assists in 25 regular-season games for Luverne (Minn.) High School.

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans making last push for playoffs."