Americans fall short at Calgary
The Tri-City Americans took a third-period lead, but Jakob Stukel tallied a hat trick for the Calgary Hitmen en route to a 4-3 win in Western Hockey League play on Saturday night.
Calgary started the scoring, as Stukel scored midway through the first on the power play to put the Hitmen up 1-0. The Hitmen outshot the Americans 14-8 in the period and held the lead going into the second period.
Tri-City was able to even the score late in the second period on the power play. Michael Rasmussen redirected a shot from Vladislav Lukin into the net to tie the game at one.
Two minutes later, Calgary retook the lead, as Radel Fazleev banged home a puck in front of the net, giving the Hitmen a 2-1 lead going into the third period.
The Americans came on strong in the third, tying the game 8:36 into the third.
Rasmussen fired a shot into the twine for his second goal of the game on the power play to tie the game at 2-2. Tri-City took the lead 2 minutes later, as Kurtis Rutledge fired a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and into the net for his first career WHL goal and a 3-2 lead.
Calgary wouldn’t go away, as Stukel scored his second of the game, tying the score at 3-3. And 45 seconds later, the Hitmen took the lead on the power play, as Stukel slapped home a rebound to complete the hat trick and give the Hitmen a 4-3 lead. Tri-City fought to get a goal to tie the game, but Calgary was able to hold on for the win.
The Americans snap a two-game road win streak.
Tri-City converted 2-of-7 power play chances and recorded 10 penalty minutes. Calgary converted 2-of-5 man advantage opportunities and spent 14 minutes in the penalty box.
Evan Sarthou made 29 saves in the loss while Cody Porter stopped 23 shots in the win.
The Americans will return to Kennewick and play host to the Swift Current Broncos at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday at the Toyota Center.
This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Americans fall short at Calgary."