Americans ring in the new year with a win over rival Spokane

Isaac Johnson and Patrick Dea were playing their first New Year’s Eve game against the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday night, and both brought the house down.

Johnson scored the game-winning goal, and Dea finished with 43 saves as the Tri-City Americans rallied for a 4-3 victory before a crowd of 6,011 fans at Toyota Center.

“It was unreal. It was a great atmosphere, for sure,” said Johnson, whose goal at 12:44 of the second period turned out to be the game winner. “I soaked it all in. It was a good win and a good way to end the year.”

Tri-City is 17-9-0-1 with one tie over the 28 years of New Year’s Eve matchup, and has won the past two meetings.

The Americans, who have points in six consecutive games, lost their past two games in overtime before Sunday. Tri-City (20-10-5-0, 45 points) pulled two points ahead of Spokane in the U.S. Division standings to take sole possession of third place, and trail second-place Portland by two points.

The Americans, who have three games in hand on Spokane and two on Portland, hit the road for five consecutive games, beginning Wednesday in Kelowna.

Tri-City found itself on the losing end of a 3-1 game after the first period, but in the second, goals by Dylan Coghlan, Nolan Yaremko and Johnson put the Americans out front 4-3, and Dea kept the net clear.

Dea had 17 saves in the second period, and 12 in the third to help preserve the win.

“It was good to get the win,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “We had some big saves from Patrick, blocked shots and they were clearing pucks at the end. Patrick played well the whole game. We got distracted a little in the first, but we regrouped between periods and got the job done.”

After Yaremko knotted the score at 3-3, Connor Bouchard, a 5-foot-6, 150-pound rookie, sent a jolt of electricity through his team and the fans when he dominated a fight against Spokane’s Cedric Chenier.

A minute or so later, Johnson scored.

“There were a lot of emotions running through the game,” Dea said. “We fed off the fans, and when Bouch got into that fight, that pumped the guys up.”

Tri-City started the third period with leading goal scorer Jordan Topping in the penalty box for 10 minutes. He got caught playing without his mouthguard at the end of the second.

The Americans weathered the storm, and a Spokane power play, before his return.

“I definitely want to be on the ice when we have the lead,” said Topping, who finished with three assists. “The guys got it done tonight. It was a great team win. It was a pretty awesome atmosphere tonight, and we did a good job battling back. It was nice to get the win for the fans.”

Spokane pulled goalie Donovan Buskey with 2:36 left to play for an extra attacker, but the Americans did a good job of blocking shots and clearing the puck.

“They guys helped me out tonight,” Dea said of the third. “We got the two points and that was huge.”

The Americans got off to a good start in the first period, getting a goal from Riley Sawchuk at 12:07 to bring the crowd to life.

The celebration was short-lived as the Chiefs would score three unanswered goals before the end of the first period.

Jake McGrew tied the score at 1-1 at 13:09, beating Dea in the slot, and Eli Zummack gave Spokane a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal less than 2 minutes later.

Zach Fischer pushed the Chiefs’ lead to 3-1 with 58 seconds left in the period, taking advantage of an open net behind Dea.

This story was originally published December 31, 2017 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Americans ring in the new year with a win over rival Spokane."