Tri-City Americans fall to Kelowna Rockets in overtime
The Tri-City Americans went to overtime for the second time in as many games, but Friday night it was the Kelowna Rockets who skated away with two points in a 3-2 win at Toyota Center.
Cole Lind scored at 3:17 in the extra session for the Rockets, who have points in their past six games.
The Americans (18-11-3-0, 39 points), who beat Everett 4-3 in overtime Wednesday, are 6-3 in overtime games this season.
Kelowna (18-11-1-0, 37 points) is 3-0 against Tri-City this season. They finish their four-game series March 4 in Kelowna.
The Rockets opened the scoring at 18:54 of the first with a goal by Nolan Foote, but the lead wouldn’t last long.
Michael Rasmussen and Juuso Välimäki scored back-to-back power-play goals at 2:12 and 6:02 of the second for a 2-1 lead.
Calvin Thurkauf would tie the score at 2 at 8:44 of the second.
The Rockets outshot the Americans 15-1 in the third period, but could not get anything past Tri-City goalie Evan Sarthou, who finished with 42 saves.
Tyler Sandhu and Vladislav Lukin each had two assists for the Americans, who will host Victoria on Saturday in their 16th annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
Rockets 3, Americans 2 (OT)
Kelowna | 1 | 1 | 0 1 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 0 | 2 | 0 0 | — | 2 |
First — 1, Kel, N.Foote 5 (Johansen, K.Topping), 18:54 (pp). Penalties — Leason, TC (holding), 17:33.
Second — 2, TC, Rasmussen 22 (Sandhu, Lukin), 2:12 (pp). 3, TC, Välimäki 12 (Sandhu, Lukin), 6:02 (pp). 4, Kel, Thurkauf 13 (Kryski, Hilsendager), 8:44. Penalties — Hilsendager, Kel (interference), 1:02; Konrad Belcourt, Kel (hooking), 4:18; Soustal, Kel (high-sticking), 10:27; Thurkauf, Kel (hooking), 12:34.
Third — None. Penalties — Lukin, TC (holding), 8:43; Lukin, TC (high-sticking), 19:46.
Overtime — 5, Kel, Lind 16 (Stephens), 3:17. Penalties — None.
Shots — Kel 12-13-15-5 —45. TC 10-10-1-0 — 21. Power plays — Kel 1-3. TC 2-4. Goalies — Kel, Herringer 15-8-1-0 (21 shots-19 saves). TC, Sarthou 4-2-2-0 (45-42). Referees — Kevin Bennett and Nick Swaine. A — 2,609.
This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans fall to Kelowna Rockets in overtime."