Americans having success north of the border
For the second night in a row, the Tri-City Americans picked up a win in the Central Division.
Parker AuCoin had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Coghlan handed out three assists as the Americans skated to a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen before a crowd of 5,213 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Americans (29-19-7-1, 66 points), remain in fourth place in the the U.S. Division, two points back of Spokane and four in front of Seattle.
After Calgary scored the first goal at 8:34 of the first period, Jake Bean, in his first game back at the Saddledome since he was traded to Tri-City, tied the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 16:59.
With just 6 seconds left in the first, Michael Rasmussen gave Tri-City a 2-1 lead with yet another power-play goal.
Former Americans defenseman Dakota Krebs, who was part of the Bean trade, even things up at 2-2 at 11:17 of the second, only to see Jordan Topping scored 7 seconds later for a 3-2 lead.
AuCoin, working his magic on the penalty kill, scored short-handed for the fourth time this season, to give Tri-City a 4-2 lead at the end of the second. AuCoin ranks second in the WHL with four short-handed goals. Two players have five.
The Hitmen would score early in the second, but could not catch the Americans, who improved to 5-0 against the Central Division this season. Tri-City will try and make a clean sweep Friday when they play at Kootenay.
Beck Warm finished with 36 saves for Tri-City, which killed off all six Hitmen power plays.
Luke Coleman had a goal and an assist for Calgary, while Nick Schneider had 21 saves.
Americans 4, Hitmen 3
Tri-City | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 |
Calgary | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 |
First — 1, Cal, Coleman 13 (Schmiemann, Kastelic), 8:34. 2, TC, Bean 9 (Coghlan, AuCoin), 16:59 (pp). 3, TC, Rasmussen 22 (Coghlan), 19:54 (pp).
Second — 4, Cal, Krebs 3 (Chaulk, Coleman), 11:17. 5, TC, Topping 32 (Coghlan, Geekie), 11:24. 6, TC, AuCoin 15, 13:03 (sh).
Third — 7, Cal, Nielsen 12 (Focht), 3:11.
Shots — TC 13-6-6 —25. Cal 11-18-10 — 39. Power plays — TC 2-4. Cal 0-6. Goalies — TC, Warm 14-8-1-1 (39 shots-36 saves). Cal, Schneider 16-26-5-2 (25-21). Referees — Tyler Jensen and Jonathan Spurgeon. A — 5,213.
This story was originally published February 14, 2018 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Americans having success north of the border."