Ams lose to Portland, take bigger hit in standings
The Tri-City Americans took a step backwards in their quest for a playoff spot Friday, dropping a 5-3 game to the Portland Winterhawks at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The loss put the Americans (30-31-2-1, 63 points) six points back of No. 8 Spokane, which beat Prince George, and seven points back of the Winterhawks (33-27-4-0, 70 points).
Portland led 2-1 after the first period, with Tri-City getting a goal from rookie Michael Rasmussen.
The Americans would score twice in the second as Tyler Sandhu and Vladislav Lukin found the net, but they would be a step behind the Winterhawks all night.
Evan Sarthou, playing in his 100th WHL game, finished with 32 saves for Tri-City.
Winterhawks 5, Americans 3
Americans | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 |
Portland | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | 5 |
First — 1, Por, Hughes 4 (Abols, Heinrich), 14:27 (pp). 2, Por, Turgeon, 18:25. 3, TC, Rasmussen 15 (Lukin, McCue), 18:56. Penalties — Nagel, Por (tripping), 8:11; Coghlan, TC (tripping), 10:05; Carlo, TC (interference), 13:07; Glass, Por (hooking), 19:35.
Second — 4, Por, Glass 9 (Abols, Iverson), 4:18. 5, TC, Sandhu 17 (Bowles, Topping), 5:46. 6, Por, Heinrich 9 (Abols), 8:54. 7, TC, Lukin 21 (Välimäki, McCue), 11:55. Penalties — Rayman, TC 9roughing), 5:24; Yaremko, TC, minor-major (interference, fighting), 5:24; Henrich, Por (roughing), 5:24; Nagel, Por, major (fighting), 5:24; Overhardt, Por (roughing), 5:24.
Third — 8, Por, Heinrich 10 (Turgeon, Dougherty), 19:06 (en). Penalty — Krebs, TC (slashing), 3:12.
Shots — TC 9-14-7 — 30. Por 11-10-12 — 33. Power plays — TC 0-2, Por 1-4. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 24-28-2-0 (32 shots-28 saves). Por, Hill 31-24-3-0 (30-27). Referees — Kevin Bennett and Mark Pearce. A — 7,498.
This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Ams lose to Portland, take bigger hit in standings."