Coghlan, Olson lead Tri-City Americans to big win over Spokane Chiefs
Dylan Coghlan and Kyle Olson each had a four-point night in leading the Tri-City Americans to an 8-3 victory over the Spokane Chiefs before a Saturday night crowd of 5,015 at Toyota Center.
Coghlan and Olson each had one goal and three assists, and Vladislav Lukin had two goals and an assist as the Americans improved to 6-1 against the Chiefs this season.
“It was nice to be on the other side of things, to have the lead and not chase the game,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson. “The emotions were high playing Spokane.”
The U.S. Division standing are getting crowded at the top with the Americans (30-19-3-0, 63 points) six points back of league-leading Everett, and Seattle is just three points back of Tri-City after beating the Silvertips 3-2 on Saturday.
Tri-City plays at Seattle on Sunday. The Americans dropped a 4-3 game to the Thunderbirds on Friday.
Leading 5-3 after two periods, the Americans went on a scoring spree in the third, getting goals from Tyler Sandhu, Morgan Geekie and Lukin with his second of the night. They scored three goals on five shots.
“We had two big crowds this this weekend and we played well,” Williamson said. “Tonight was certainly entertaining.”
Sandhu’s goal put him at 200 points for his career — 118 of which have come with Tri-City.
The scoring was fast and furious in the first period as the Americans took a 4-1 lead just 9:36 into the game.
Kyle Olson scored at 1:27, and Dylan Coghlan scored 49 seconds later for a 2-0 lead.
Jaret Anderson-Dolan put the Chiefs on the board at 4:01 for a 2-1 game, but the Americans just kept coming.
Parker Wotherspoon scored short-handed, and Lukin scored his 20th of the season for a 4-1 advantage.
Jordan Topping would score in the second for Tri-City, while Spokane pulled within 5-3 with goals by Hudson Elynuik and Eli Zummack.
With an assist on Lukin’s goal, Wotherspoon has 132 for his career, tying Tyler Schmidt (2006-11) atop the Tri-City defensemen leaderboard.
“It says a lot about them and what they have done in the league,” Williamson said of Sandhu and Wotherspoon. “If you asked them, they would say the best part of the night was that we rebounded and got the win.”
Rylan Parenteau finished with 35 saves for the Americans
“There was a lot of action at both ends,” Williamson said. “We got a pretty good lead, but also gave up some chances. He played very well for us.”
Americans 8, Chiefs 3
Spokane | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 4 | 1 | 3 | — | 8 |
First — 1, TC, Olson 13 (Geekie), 1:27. 2, TC, Coghlan 8 (Olson, Lukin), 2:16. 3, Spo, Anderson-Dolan 24 (Ross, Elynuik), 4:01. 4, TC, Wotherspoon 8 (AuCoin, Yorke), 4:26 (sh). 5, TC, Lukin 20 (Wotherspoon, Coghlan), 9:36. Penalties — James, TC (roughing), 3:47; Lukin, TC (roughing), 6:54; Topping, TC (slashing), 11:16; Leduc, Spo (tripping), 16:03.
Second — 6, Spo, Elynuik 18 (Ke.Yamamoto, Anderson-Dolan), 9:00. 7, Topping 14 (O’Reilly, Coghlan), 12:00. 8, Spo, Zummack 7, 16:44. Penalties — Elynuik, Spo (cross-checking), 11:39; Wotherspoon, TC (slashing), 11:39.
Third — 9, TC, Sandhu 13 (Topping, Leason), 13:25. 10, TC, Geekie 27 (Olson, Coghlan), 16:48. 11, TC, Lukin 21 (Olson, Geekie), 17:33. Penalties — Ostir, Spo, major (fighting), 13:36; Sawchuk, TC, major (fighting), 13:36; McKay, Spo, major (fighting), 13:46; Yorke, TC, major (fighting), 13:46; Bafaro, TC (slashing), 14:39; Coler, Spo (misconduct), 16:33; Olson, TC (misconduct), 16:33.
Shots — Spo 10-13-13 —36. TC 6-12-5 — 23. Power plays — Spo 0-4. TC 0-1. Goalies —Spo, Weatherill 8-12-4-1 (19 shots-13 saves), Sittler (2-4). TC, Parenteau 19-10-1-0 (38-35). Referees — Steve Papp and Shane Warschaw. A — 5,015.
This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Coghlan, Olson lead Tri-City Americans to big win over Spokane Chiefs."