Tri-City Americans get off to hot start, then have to fend off Red Deer rally
The Tri-City Americans had what seemed to be a commanding 6-0 lead 34 minutes into the game. In the end, they would need every last goal to hold off Red Deer for an 8-4 Western Hockey League win Wednesday night at Toyota Center.
The Americans (33-23-3-0, 69 points) desperately needed the two points to stay in striking distance of U.S. Division-leading Everett (78 points) and second-place Seattle (77).
Red Deer (23-26-6-3, 55 points), which is third in the Central Division, has lost six games in a row.
Tri-City’s Morgan Geekie scored on the first shot of the game at 1:17 of the first period. Juuso Välimäki followed 4 minutes later, and Brett Leason would score the first of his two goals short-handed for a 3-0 lead.
Jordan Topping closed out the first with a power-play goal at 19:47.
Leason scored his second of the game at 2:23 of the second, with Dylan Coghlan following with a power-play goal for a 6-0 lead.
The Rebels struck back with four consecutive goals — two coming in the final 5 minutes of the second period, and two in the first 6:58 of the third for a 6-4 game.
Parker AuCoin ended Red Deer’s scoring spree with a goal at 12:37, and Nolan Yaremko added a short-handed goal for good measure at 17:54.
Rylan Parenteau finished with 27 saves for the Americans, while Parker Wotherspoon had three assists.
Lasse Petersen got the start for Red Deer, but was yanked after the first goal of the game. Riley Lamb finished out, recording 26 saves and the loss.
Americans 8, Rebels 4
Red Deer | 0 | 2 | 2 | — | 4 |
Tri-City | 4 | 2 | 2 | — | 8 |
First — 1, TC, Geekie 31 (AuCoin, Lukin), 1:17. 2, TC, Välimäki 17 (Olson, Focht), 5:25. 3, TC, Leason 4, 11:01 (sh). 4, TC, Topping 18 (Välimäki, Wotherspoon), 19:47 (pp). Penalties — TC bench (too many men, served by Focht), 2:56; Geekie, TC (interference), 9:53; Hagel, RD, major (fighting), 17:28; Olson, TC, major (fighting), 17:28; Hausinger, RD (slashing), 18:11; James, TC (roughing), 18:11; Bobyk, RD (slashing), 18:45.
Second — 5, TC, Leason 5 (Sawchuk, Wotherspoon), 2:23. 6, TC, Coghlan 11 (Wotherspoon), 5:40 (pp). 7, RD, Hagel 22 (Spacek, Musil), 14:52 (pp). 8, RD, Bains 7 (Herauf, Hagel), 18:21. Penalties — Polei, RD, major (fighting, game misconduct), 2:28; James, TC, major (fighting, game misconduct), 2:28; Roy, RD (checking from behind), 5:34; Olson, TC (interference), 14:00.
Third — 9, RD, Freadrich 5 (Spacek, Herauf), 3:50 (pp). 10, RD, Campese 2 (Bains, Sakowich), 6:58. 11, TC, AuCoin 19 (Geekie, O’Reilly), 12:37. 12, TC, Yaremko 6 (Leason), 17:54 (sh). Penalties — AuCoin, TC (roughing), :21; Krebs, TC (hooking), 3:12; Sakowich, RD (slashing), 13:02; O’Reilly, TC (tripping), 16:19; Zablocki, RD, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 19:32; Topping, TC, major (fighting), 19:32.
Shots — RD 10-9-12 — 31. TC 15-8-11 — 34. Power plays — RD 2-6. TC 2-4. Goalies — RD, Petersen (1 shots-0 saves), Lamb 12-12-2-2 (1:18 of 1st, 33-26). TC, Parenteau 22-12-1-0 (31-27). Referees — Brett Iverson and Dexter Rasmussen. A — 2,493.
This story was originally published February 15, 2017 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans get off to hot start, then have to fend off Red Deer rally."