Seattle takes commanding 3-0 series lead over Tri-City Americans
The Tri-City Americans have their backs against the wall in their first-round playoff series against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Ethan Bear scored twice and had three assists, and Donovan Neuls and Keegan Kolesar each had a goal and four assists to lead Seattle to an 9-2 victory Wednesday at Toyota Center to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference series.
“Anything and everything that could go wrong, went wrong in the first 10 minutes,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “The guys tried to do things that were uncharacteristic. Every time we tried to do something, it ended up in the back of the net. When you do this in front of your fans, it’s hard to put behind you.”
Game 4 is Friday at Toyota Center. The Americans need a win to shift the series back to Kent for Game 5 on Saturday.
“They are a good team, and they are a good team here,” Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk said of the Americans. “I thought our start was good, the guys were ready to go. We just try to be consistent and try not to worry about the score.”
Bear scored the first of the game, and scored again in the second. He said he did not foresee the runaway score and the first two games were close.
“Every playoff game is crucial, especially in this building,” Bear said. “Playoff games are usually pretty tight. They played hard and we didn’t let the score get in our heads.”
Trailing 8-2 after two periods, the Americans had two good scoring chances in the third. The first came at 9:32 when Max James had a short-handed breakaway, but was turned away by Seattle rookie goalie Carl Stankowski.
Tyler Sandhu was on the doorstep 5 minutes later, but suffered the same fate. Stankowski finished with 21 saves.
“He was injured for a while, but he had two or three games at the end of the season to get some rust off,” Konowalchuk said. “He has played well for us.”
The Thunderbirds took a 5-0 lead after the first period, and added three more goals in a span of 3:37 in the second for a commanding 8-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Tri-City’s first scoring chance of the second came in a pileup in front of Stankowski 11 minutes in. The Americans tried to poke the puck in the net, but Stankowski was able to cover the puck.
Austyn Playfair finally got the Americans on the board at 16:56, picking up a rebound in the slot and beating Stankowski for his second goal of the playoffs.
Morgan Geekie would add a goal with 18.3 seconds left in the period, but it barely made a dent in the Thunderbirds’ lead.
It took just 2 minutes and 55 seconds for the Thunderbirds to strike in the first period, as Bear scored on a second chance off his own shot.
Seattle scored four more goals by the end of the period, driving Tri-City starter Evan Sarthou from the net after giving up three goals on seven shots.
Ryan Parenteau, who started the first two games of the series, relieved Sarthou at 10:16 of the first, but he allowed two more goals as Seattle scored at will.
“We hung them out to dry,” Williamson said of his goalies. “We gave up opportunities, didn’t get to loose pucks and didn’t clear the crease.”
Scott Eansor scored 4-on-4 at 7:48, and Jarret Tyszka gathered a loose puck to the right of Sarthou and buried it at 10:16, ending Sarthou’s night.
Parenteau gave up a goal to Donovan Neuls after the Americans were unable to clear the puck in front of the net, and Austin Strand finished the onslaught with a blast from the high slot on the power play. Parenteau finished with 23 saves.
Tri-City managed just five shots on goal in the first, and came up empty on two power plays.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Americans are 1-for-16 on the power play in the series, including an 0-for-4 performance Wednesday. ... The Thunderbirds tied a team record for goals in a playoff game (9) — the last time coming in 1994 in a 9-6 win over Spokane in the third game of the first round.
WHL DISCIPLINE: Tri-City D Dalton Yorke was suspended by the league for his actions Saturday during Game 2 in Seattle. The length of his suspension is TBD. It is the first time the rugged defenseman has been suspended since March 5, 2014, when he played with Kelowna.
Thunderbirds 9, Americans 2
Seattle | 5 | 3 | 1 | — | 9 |
Tri-City | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 |
First — 1, Sea, Bear 1 (Kolesar, True), 2:55. 2, Sea, Eansor 2 (Bear, Moilanen), 7:48. 3, Sea, Tyszka 1 (Andrusiak, Adams), 10:16. 4, Sea, Neuls 2 (True, Kolesar), 12:03. 5, Sea, Strand 2 (Neuls, Bear), 17:08 (pp). Penalties — Bishop, Sea (hooking), 6:59; Välimäki, TC (interference), 7:26; Kolesar, Sea (interference), 14:20; Topping, TC, double minor (high-sticking), 15:53; Kolesar, Sea (unsportsmanlike conduct-embellishment), 20:00; Wotherspoon, TC (slashing), 20:00.
Second — 6, Sea, Kolesar 3 (Neuls, True), 15:03. 7, TC, Playfair 2 (James, Krebs), 16:56. 8, Sea, True 1 (Neuls, Kolesar), 17:13. 9, Sea, Bear 2 (Kolesar, Neuls), 18:40 (pp). 10, TC, Geekie 1 (Sandhu), 19:41. Penalties — Seattle bench (too many men, served by Moilanen), 1:12; Coghlan, TC (high-sticking), 17:23.
Third — 11, Sea, Strand 3 (Bear, Stankowski), 16:10 (pp). Penalties — True, Sea (roughing), 1:03; Lukin, TC (roughing), 1:03; Strand, Sea (hooking), 2:58; Välimäki, TC (tripping), 9:11; Tri-City bench (too many men, served by Leason), 15:20; Andrusiak, Sea (roughing), 17:14; Topping, TC (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:14; James, TC (tripping), 19:30.
Shots — Sea 14-14-8 — 36. TC 5-10-8 — 23. Power plays — Sea 3-7. TC 0-4. Goalies — Sea, Stankowski 2-0-0 (23 shots-21 saves). TC, Sarthou (7-4), Parenteau 0-3-0 (10:16 of 1st, 29-23). Referees — Mike Campbell and Adam Griffiths. A — 2,632.
Annie Fowler: 509-582-1574, @TCHIceQueen
This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Seattle takes commanding 3-0 series lead over Tri-City Americans."