Bizarre night has Americans and Rockets combining for 16 goals. See who had more.
It was one of those nights.
Just 3 minutes into Saturday’s game, the Tri-City Americans found themselves trailing Kelowna 3-0 in Game 2 of their first-round series. Not to fear, the Americans got back on track with help of a Nolan Yaremko hat trick, to beat the Rockets 9-7 at Prospera Place and take a 2-0 lead in the series.
“It was a different one for sure,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said of the game. “It’s typically low-scoring playoff hockey. What a strange night. Digging ourselves in the hole we did, they showed a lot of character coming back. I thought our leaders did a good job keeping the guys focused, and we found a way to win tonight.”
Tri-City, which won the opening game 5-0 on Thursday, will host Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday at Toyota Center.
“The thing that impressed me is they are even keeled,” Williamson said of his players. “They know Kelowna has a good and experienced hockey team. We still have a lot of work to do.”
.@NHLCanes prospect @M_Geekie14 makes it 7-7! What world are we living in?! #KELvsTC #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/OLhX7SbTs8
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 25, 2018
Patrick Dea, who stonewalled the B.C. Division champs in Game 1, gave up three goals in the first three minutes — with the first two coming in the first 51 seconds of the game.
“I thought we needed to settle down,” Williamson said of the early deficit. “We didn’t put ourselves in a good position. Patty has played well for us and we have a lot of confidence in him and Beck (Warm).”
The Americans quickly got back in the game as Michael Rasmussen and Yaremko scored power-play goals to pull within 3-2. Rasmussen tied the score at 3-3 at 15:19, and Yaremko put Tri-City out front 4-3 at 16:09.
The lead would hold until the end of the period, but it disappeared quickly in the second.
Nolan Foote scored 2:45 into the period off a Tri-City turnover, and Kole Lind put the Rockets on top 5-4 at 8:58.
Isaac Johnson evened things up with a goal off a rebound of a Jordan Topping shot, but the Rockets would have the last a Kaedan Korczak chipped the puck at the post and it threaded its way through a sliver of daylight between Dea and the pipe for a 6-5 lead.
One more for good measure! Isaac Johnson puts @TCAmericans up 8-7! #KELvsTC #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/cyvhUZugYy
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 25, 2018
That goal ended Dea’s night, but the Americans were not done.
Morgan Geekie scored twice in the third, with the second tying the game at 7-7 with 7:50 left on the clock. From there, goals by Johnson and Yaremko — whose empty-net goal finished off his hat trick — sealed the win.
“Nolan played well,” Williamson said. “He has been a warrior for us, and a lot doesn’t get noticed. It’s nice to see him rewarded.”
Rasmussen had two assists to go with his two goals, while Dylan Coghlan had three assists, and Jordan Topping, Geekie and Johnson two each.
Americans 9, Rockets7
Tri-City | 4 | 1 | 4 | — | 9 |
Kelowna | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | 7 |
First — 1, Kel, Lind 1 (C.Foote, K.Topping), :35 (pp). 2, Kel, K.Topping 1, :51. 3, Kel, C.Foote 1 (Kindree, N.Foote), 3:00. 4, TC, Rasmussen 3 (Geekie, J.Topping), 8:51 (pp). 5, TC, Yaremko 1 (Coghlan, Olson), 13:36 (pp). 6, TC, Rasmussen 4 (Geekie, Johnson), 15:19. 7, TC, Yaremko 2 (Johnson), 16:09. Penalties — Yaremko, TC (slashing), :20; Gardiner, Kel (roughing), 7:51; Välimäki, TC (roughing), 8:07; Dube, Kel (roughing), 8:07; N.Foote, Kel (high-sticking), 11:44; Dube, Kel (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:59.
Second — 8, Kel, N.Foote 1, 2:45. 9, Kel, Lind 2 (C.Foote, Twarynski), 8:58 (pp). 10, TC, Johnson 2 (J.Topping, Coghlan), 11:18. 11, Kel, Korczak 1, 15:01. Penalties — Coghlan, TC (holding), 3:21; J.Topping, TC (high-sticking), 7:00; Yaremko, TC (embelishment), 19:37; Hilsendager, Kel (interference), 19:37.
Third — 12, TC, Geekie 3 (Olson, Rasmussen), 3:00. 13, Kel, Twarynski 1 (Lind, C.Foote), 11:37 (pp). 14, TC, Geekie 4 (Rasmussen), 12:10. 15, TC, Johnson 3 (Coghlan, Bean), 13:12. 16, TC, Yaremko 3, 19:11 (en). Penalties — Välimäki, TC (high-sticking), 11:24.
Shots — TC 20-6-13 — 39. Kel 8-8-10 — 26. Power plays — TC 2-3. Kel 3-4. Goalies — TC, Dea 1-0 (16 shots-10 saves), Warm 1-0 (15:01 of 2nd, 10-9). Kel, Porter 0-1 (16-12), Salmond (16:09 of 1st, 22-18). Referees — Adam Griffiths and Sean Raphael. A —5,560.
Tri-City 2, Kelowna 0
Game 1: March 22, Tri-City 5, Kelowna 0
Game 2: March 24, Tri-City 9, Kelowna 7
Game 3: March 28 at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
Game 4: March 29 at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
*Game 5: March 31 at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
*Game 6: April 1 at Tri-City, 5:05 p.m.
*Game 7: April 3 at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
*If necessary
This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 11:22 PM with the headline "Bizarre night has Americans and Rockets combining for 16 goals. See who had more.."