Tri-City Americans’ offense sputters in 6-2 loss to Seattle
The Tri-City Americans scored the first goal of the game, but only mustered just two Friday night as the Seattle Thunderbirds rolled to a 6-2 Western Hockey League win in Kent.
Seattle (34-15-3-2, 73 points), which has won 16 of its past 18 games, moved into first place in the U.S. Division, while Tri-City (31-22-3-0, 65 points) remains third, seven points behind No. 2 Everett, which dropped a 2-1 game at Brandon on Friday.
Playing with without leading goal scorer Michael Rasmussen, the Americans managed just 20 shots, but both of their goals came on the man advantage.
Jordan Topping opened the scoring at 9:55 of the first with his 16th goal of the season, only to see the Thunderbirds score the next four goals for a 4-1 lead midway through the second period.
Parker Wotherspoon broke the drought with a power-play goal at 16:24 of the second. It was Wotherspoon’s 166th career point, moving him past Tyler Schmidt (2006-11) for first all-time among the franchise’s defensemen.
Seattle would close out the game with goals by Ryan Gropp and Alexander True in the third period.
Keegan Kolesar had a goal and three assists for Seattle, while Mathew Barzal had three assists.
Tri-City goalie Evan Sarthou finished with 34 saves as the Thunderbirds outshot the Americans 43-20.
Tri-City’s Max James played his 150th WHL game, while Juuso Välimäki played his 100th game.
Thunderbirds 6, Americans 2
Tri-City | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 |
Seattle | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 6 |
First — 1, TC, Topping 16 (Geekie, Lukin), 9:55 (pp). 2, Sea, Neuls 11 (Kolesar, Barzal), 12:38 (pp). 3, Sea, Kolesar 15 (Bear, Toth), 15:13 (pp). Penalties — Adams, Sea (roughing), 9:47; Focht, TC (slashing), 11:44; Wotherspoon, TC, double minor (slashing, roughing), 14:38; Andrusiak, Sea (roughing), 14:38.
Second — 4, Sea, Bear 20 (Barzal, Kolesar), 12:15 (pp). 5, Sea, Moilanen, 12:24. 6, TC, Wotherspoon 9 (Välimäki, Sandhu), 16:24 (pp). Penalties — Yorke, TC (roughing), 3:03; Sandhu, TC (slashing), 6:50; James, TC (delay of game), 8:05; Lukin, TC (checking from behind), 10:58; Topping, TC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:24; Neuls, Sea (unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:24; Gropp, Sea (high-sticking), 12:34; Strand, Sea (slashing), 14:05; Neuls, Sea (tripping), 15:17; Adams, Sea (tripping), 19:50.
Third — 7, Sea, Gropp 20 (Kolesar, Barzal), 3:23. 8, Sea, True 17 (Gropp), 15:44. Penalties — Olson, TC (roughing), 1:25; Strand, Sea (roughing), 1:25; Adams, Sea (tripping), 3:57; Lukin, TC (roughing), 8:02; Neuls, Sea (hooking), 11:02; O’Reilly, Sea (tripping), 19:11.
Shots — TC 5-6-9 — 20. Sea 12-15-16 — 43. Power plays — TC 2-7. Sea 3-8. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 7-6-2-0 (40 shots-34 saves), Parenteau (15:44 of 3rd, 3-3). Sea, Toth 28-15-1-1 (20-18). Referees — Fraser Lawrence and Sean Raphael. A — 5,308.
This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans’ offense sputters in 6-2 loss to Seattle."