AuCoin cashes in as Tri-City Americans run win streak to 7 games
The only luck the Kootenay Ice have had against the Tri-City Americans in recent years is bad luck.
Parker AuCoin had two goals and two assists Friday as the Americans handed the Ice a 7-4 loss before a crowd of 3,543 at Toyota Center, and ran their win streak to seven games.
It was Kootenay’s seventh consecutive loss to Tri-City. The last time the Ice beat the Americans was Nov. 14, 2009, in Cranbrook, British Columbia.
“Coming off a long road trip, you can have a tough time getting going,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “We had a good start, but once we were up, we were guilty of cheating and let them back in. I thought we overpassed instead of shooting the puck, but we did a lot of good things well and used our depth.”
Tri-City (29-17-3-0, 61 points) kept pace with U.S. Division-leading Everett (29-6-7-1, 66 points), which beat Seattle 1-0 on Friday. The Americans host the Silvertips on Saturday.
Tri-City led 6-2 after two periods, but the Ice (11-28-7-1, 30 points) never backed down, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes of the third to make it 6-4.
Austin Wellsby scored both Kootenay goals, the first off a nice cross-ice pass from Colton Kroeker that he slipped past Evan Sarthou at the left post at 1:21.
Working on their first power play, Wellsby scored again for the Ice to make things interesting down the stretch.
“I think we were guilty of looking at the standings and where they were at,” AuCoin said of the Ice. “We did what we had to do to win. We are looking forward to Everett tomorrow. It will be a big test for us.”
Sarthou finished with 25 saves and pick up his seventh win.
“He looked good in the first,” Williamson said of Sarthou. “He controlled his rebounds and put pucks out of play. We have to be stronger in front of our goalie the entire game.”
AuCoin wasted no time in getting the party started, beating Kootenay goalie Payton Lee just 41 seconds into the game with his 16th goal of the season.
“I have to credit my linemates,” said AuCoin, who also scored the last goal of the game. “(Nolan) Yaremko and I have been through a lot together, and we know each other well. Whoever they put with us, it works.”
Juuso Välimäki added another goal at 12:08, blasting the puck in the net from the top of the circles for a 2-0 game at the end of the first.
The floodgates opened in the second as the Americans poured it on with four more goals, starting with Brett Leason’s second of the season.
Leason batted the puck out of the air and past Lee at 3:35, and Kyle Olson added a goal at 9:55, ending the night for Lee, who allowed four goals on 11 shots.
Kootenay’s Brett Davis ended Tri-City’s run with a goal at 14:30, but Yaremko and Morgan Geekie would add goals for Tri-City for a 6-1 lead.
Yaremko would finish with two assists, as did Parker Wotherspoon.
NOTE: With two assists, Wotherspoon now has 130 career assists, moving him to second all-time among the club’s defensemen. He broke a tie with Darrell Hay (128), and trails leader Tyler Schmidt (132) by two.
Americans 7, Ice 4
Kootenay | 0 | 2 | 2 | — | 4 |
Tri-City | 2 | 4 | 1 | — | 7 |
First — 1, TC, AuCoin 16 (Wotherspoon, Yaremko), :41. 2, TC, Välimäki 13 (Sandhu, Rasmussen), 12:08. Penalties — Fleury, Ktn (holding), 8:18.
Second — 3, TC, Leason 2 (Yaremko, AuCoin), 3:35. 4, TC, Olson 11 (Geekie, Wotherspoon), 9:55. 5, Ktn, Davis 10 (Elmer, Fleury), 14:30. 6, TC, Yaremko 5 (Leason, AuCoin), 15:46. 7, TC, Geekie 26 (Olson), 18:59. 8, Ktn, Morison 1 (Sidaway, Hines), 19:25. Penalties — Hines, Ktn (slashing), 4:28.
Third — 9, Ktn, Wellsby 5 (Kroeker, Philp), 1:21. 10, Ktn, Wellsby 6 (Hines, Elmer), 10:06 (pp). 11, TC, AuCoin 17, 15:38. Penalties — Yorke, TC (holding), 8:18; Davis, Ktn (misconduct), 19:17; Yaremko, TC (misconduct), 19:17.
Shots — Ktn 10-10-9 — 29. TC 8-7-10 — 25. Power plays — Ktn 1-1.TC 0-2. Goalies — Ktn, Lee 9-17-5-1 (11 shots-7 saves), Walter (9:55 of 2nd, 14-11). TC, Sarthou 7-5-2-0 (29-25). Referees — Brett Iverson and Troy Paterson. A — 3,543.
Annie Fowler: 509-582-1574, @TCHIceQueen
This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 10:40 PM with the headline "AuCoin cashes in as Tri-City Americans run win streak to 7 games."