Americans lose opener in Spokane 6-4

The Spokane Chiefs erased a two-goal deficit with four unanswered goals to win their eighth consecutive game on opening night with a 6-4 victory Saturday over the Tri-City Americans at Spokane Arena.

Tyler Sandhu scored twice in the middle of the second period to give the Americans a 4-2 lead, but Jason Fram would answer for Spokane with 4:38 left in the period for a 4-3 game heading into the third.

Tri-City killed off a 5-minute Spokane power play early in the third, including a 5-on-3 stretch in the middle, but soon after, the flood of goals began.

Spokane rookie Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who scored in the second period, added two more goals in the third for a hat trick in his WHL debut. Kailer Yamamoto finished the scoring at 15:32.

Tri-City’s Jordan Topping finished with a goal and two assists, while Juuso Välimäki added two assists.

Evan Sarthou finished with 32 saves for Tri-City, as the Chiefs outshot the Americans 38-23. The Americans failed to help themselves offensively, going 0-for-7 on the power play.

Tyson Verhelst picked up the win in goal for the Chiefs, replacing starter Garret Hughson, who gave up four goals on 14 shots.

First — 1, Spo, Elynuik 1 (Ka.Yamamoto, Zwerger), 1:14. 2, TC, Vickerman 1 (Coghlan, Williams), 12:48. 3, TC, Topping 1 (Välimäki, O’Reilly), 14:33. Penalties — Olson, TC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:31; Olynek, Spo (sportsmanlike conduct), 2:31; Ka.Yamamoto, Spo (checking from behind), 7:14; Olson, TC (hooking), 9:52; Ke.Yamamoto, Spo (interference), 15:25; Elynuik, Spo (hooking), 16:48; Hamaliuk, Spo (interference), 18:52.

Second — 4, Spo, Anderson-Dolan 1 (Ka.Yamamoto, Fram), 2:01 (pp). 5, TC, Sandhu 1 (Topping,Välimäki), 8:01. 6, TC, Sandhu 2 (Rasmussen, Topping), 10:35. 7, Spo, Fram 1 (Sozanski), 15:22. Penalties — Topping, TC (tripping), 1:24; Sandhu, TC (goaltender interference), 8:13; Playfair, TC (unportsmanlike conduct), 14:20; Bechtold, Spo (unportsmanlike conduct), 14:20; Topping, TC (roughing), 15:22; Wotherspoon, TC (unportsmanlike conduct), 15:22; Sozanski, Spo (unportsmanlike conduct), 15:22; Zwerger, Spo (unportsmanlike conduct), 15:22; Fram, Spo (tripping), 18:15.

Third — 8, Spo, Anderson-Dolan 2 (Faith), 1:51. 9, Spo, Anderson-Dolan 3 (Bechtold, Whittingham), 14:13 (pp). 10, Spo, Ka.Yamamoto (Zwerger), 15:32. Penalties — Coghlan, TC, major (checking from behind, game misconduct), 4:04; Wotherspoon, TC (delay of game), 4:40; Wotherspoon, TC (interference), 12:36; Whittingham, Spo (goaltender interference), 16:30; Elynuik, Spo (delay of game), 19:53.

Shots — TC 7-8-8 — 23. Spo 6-15-17— 38. Power plays — TC 0-7. Spo 2-6. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 0-1-0-0 (38 shots-32 saves). Spo, Hughson (14-10), Verhelst 1-0-0-0 (10:35 of 2nd, 11-11). Referees — Mike Campbell and Jason Nissen. A — 8,345.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Americans lose opener in Spokane 6-4."