What’s better than 2 wins in a row? Three and a commanding series lead
The Tri-City Americans are playing their best hockey right now, which is not what the Kelowna Rockets were wanting to see in their first-round series.
Morgan Geekie had two goals and one assist, and Michael Rasmussen added one goal and two helpers as the Americans skated to a 5-3 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series at Toyota Center.
“We have the mindset to take it one game at a time,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “All of the games have been close. The fourth one is the hardest to get. We will have to play our best yet.”
Game 4 is Thursday night at Toyota Center, and if need be, Game 5 will be Saturday in Kelowna.
“Obviously, we don’t want to be in a situation where you’re fighting for your life,” Rockets coach Jason Smith said. “That is where we are now. It’s a big hill to climb, but it has happened before. We have to be willing fight another day.”
Geekie, who leads the WHL with six playoff goals, scored one in the second period, and another in the third on the power play.
“The series isn’t over yet,” Geekie said. “It’s good to get three and be here at home. Kelowna is a good team, but we knew we had the capability to be in the position we are in. We are playing good hockey right now. We are looking forward to tomorrow.”
The B.C. Division champion Rockets may not be. The Americans made good use of their power play once again, going 2-for-4. For the series, they are 7-for-10 (70 percent).
“They are a good team with good players,” Smith said. “When you makes mistakes that lead to good scoring opportunities or chaos around your net, that leads to goals. Their power play is clicking right now.”
Which is how the Americans got on the board first — a power play goal by Juuso Välimäki just 3:08 into the game.
Brett Clayton gave Tri-City a 2-0 lead at 10:10, taking a nice pass from Connor Bouchard and beating James Porter for his first goal of the series.
Kelowna would score just 12 seconds later to cut the deficit to 2-1 with a goal by Carsen Twarynski.
Then things got a little rough.
Kelowna’s Dillon Dube collided knee-to-knee with Tri-City defenseman Dylan Coghlan. Dube was whistled for a 5-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. It’s his second game misconduct in the series.
“We will have to wait and see,” Smith of the possibility of playing without Dube in Game 4. “He is a character kid. He has played at an elite level and has played for his country. You don’t get to do that if you are a dirty player.”
Coghlan was helped off the ice and to the dressing room, but did return to game after being evaluated.
“We are lucky that Cogs was good enough to come back and play,” Williamson said. “Knee on knee at a high rate of speed — these are plays they have been trying to take out.”
Smith didn’t like the fact he lost his player and Coghlan returned to the game.
“If you are going to lay on the ice, be injured,” Smith said. “Don’t embellish it.”
The Americans and Rockets traded goals in the first 1:26 of the second period. Rasmussen scored at 1:08, only to have Kole Lind make it a 3-2 game 18 seconds later.
Geekie would scored his first goal for a 4-2 lead, then strike again midway through the third for a 5-2 lead.
Kelowna pulled Porter for an extra attacker, and were able to survive three shots on an empty net by the Americans before Conner Bruggen-Cate scored at 18:29.
The Rockets ended up with a power play, and again pulled Porter for a 6-on-3 advantage the final 22.1 seconds of the game, but could not score.
“It was important that we kept our composure,” Williamson said. “Kelowna started to take some runs and target guys. We have to learn from that. We want to be aggressive and stick up for each other, but you have to stay out of the box.”
Jake Bean added two assists for the Americans, while Patrick Dea was solid in net with 22 saves.
“At key times he played well,” Williamson said of his goaltender. “They were going to the net and Patty saw the puck. He looked under control.”
Gordie Ballhorn had two assists for the Rockets, while Porter finished with 21 saves.
Americans 5, Rockets 3
Kelowna | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | 5 |
First — 1, TC, Välimäki 1 (Bean, Geekie), 3:08 (pp). 2, Clayton 1 (Boucard, Mutala), 10:10. 3, Kel, Twarynski 2 (Ballhorn, Korczak), 10:22. Penalties — Lind, Kel (roughing), 1:25; Dube, Kel, major (kneeing, game misconduct), 10:47.
Second — 4, TC, Rasmussen 5 (Johnson, Välimäki). 1:08. 5, Kel, Lind 3 (K.Topping), 1:26. 6, TC, Geekie 5 (Rasmussen, Bean), 13:04. Penalties — K.Topping, Kel (hooking), 10:59; Twarynski, Kel (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:06; James, TC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:06; J.Topping, TC (roughing), 20:00.
Third — 7, TC, Geekie 6 (Rasmussen, J.Topping), 13:05 (pp). 8, Kel, Bruggen-Cate 1 (Lind, Ballhorn), 18:29. Penalties — C.Foote, Kel (high-sticking), 11:37; Twarynski, Kel (cross-checking), 19:10; Gatenby, TC (slashing), 19:10; Yaremko, TC (high-sticking), 19:38.
Shots — Kel 7-8-10 — 25. TC 9-12-5 — 26. Power plays — Kel 0-2. TC 2-4. Goalies — Kel, Porter 0-2 (26 shots-21 saves). TC, Dea 2-0 (25-22). Referees — Tyler Adair and Meark Pearce. A — 2,519.
This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 12:25 AM with the headline "What’s better than 2 wins in a row? Three and a commanding series lead."