Tri-City Americans rally from 4-goal deficit to beat Regina
The Tri-City Americans put the rest of the Western Hockey League on notice Friday night.
The Americans (27-17-3-0, 57 points) twice were down by four goals in the first period, but rallied for a 6-5 road victory over the Regina Pats — the top-ranked team in the CHL.
Tyler Sandhu scored the tying goal for Tri-City at 6:48 of the third, and Max James put the game-winner in the net at 10:27.
It was just the fifth regulation loss for the Pats (27-5-6-1, 61 points), who got a goal and an assist from Connor Hobbs.
Trailing 4-0 midway through the first period, Michael Rasmussen got the Americans on the board at 11:16 with his 30th goal of the season.
Vladislav Lukin added back-to-back goals, and Jordan Topping brought the Americans within 5-4 by the end of the second period.
Rylan Parenteau, who replaced Evan Sarthou in the first period after he gave up three goals on eight shots, finished with 26 saves and added two assists.
Juuso Välimäki handed out three assists for the Americans, who have won eight of their past 10 games.
Adam Brooks had three assists for the Pats, while Kurtis Chapman took the loss in net after relieving starter Tyler Brown at the start of the third period.
Tri-City, 5-0 on its swing through the East Division, finish the trip Saturday at Swift Current.
Americans 6, Pats 5
Tri-City | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 6 |
Regina | 5 | 0 | 0 | — | 5 |
First — 1, Reg, Hobbs 17 (Brooks, Leedahl), :51. 2, Reg, Leschyshyn 16 (Harrison, Mahura), 3:41 (pp). 3, Reg, Lockner 2 (Brooks, Schioler), 8:40. 4, Reg, Leedahl 17 (Hobbs, Henry), 10:51. 5, TC, Rasmussen 30 (Välimäki), 11:16 (pp). 6, Reg, Ahl 19 (Brooks, Wagner), 17:12. 7, TC, Lukin 17 (Olson, Coghlan), 18:33. Penalties — Yaremko, TC (slashing), 1:57; Davidson, Reg (cross-checking), 11:08; Hobbs, Reg (delay of game), 14:56.
Second — 8, TC, Lukin 18 (Välimäki, Parenteau), 4:32. 9, Topping 10 (Sandhu, Parenteau), 16:08 (pp). Penalties — Zborovskiy, Reg (slashing), 8:13; Hobbs, Reg (roughing), 15:07; Rasmussen, TC (kneeing), 18:19.
Third — 10, TC, Sandhu 12 (Lukin, Välimäki), 6:48 (pp). 11, TC, James 8 (Yaremko), 10:27. Penalties — Wagner, Reg (roughing), 5:03; Ahl, Reg (roughing), 8:00; Hobbs, Reg (playing without helmet), 13:29; Wotherspoon, TC (interference), 16:34.
Shots — TC 9-8-12 — 29. Reg 15-8-13 — 36. Power plays — TC 3-7. Reg 1-3. Goalies — TC, Sarthou (8 shots-5 saves), Parenteau 17-8-1-0 (8:40 first, 28-26). Regina, Brown (17-13), Chapman 0-1-0-0 (12-10). Referees — Reid Anderson and Mark Pearce. A — 5,313.
This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans rally from 4-goal deficit to beat Regina."