Americans lose 3-2 in Kamloops
Matt Needham scored three goals and Devon Sideroff added three assists to lead the Kamloops Blazers to a key 3-2 win over the Tri-City Americans at Sandman Centre.
The Americans (17-22-2-0, 36 points), who are last in the Western Conference, trail the seventh-place Blazers (19-14-4-2, 44) by eight points in the race for the playoffs.
Tri-City’s Beau McCue scored the opening goal of the game at 8:28 of the first period.
Needham scored twice in the second period before Dylan Coghlin found the net at 8:48 of the third to tie the score at 2-2. Needham finished his hat trick two minutes later.
Evan Sarthou finished with 29 saves for the Ams.
Blazers 3, Americans 2
Tri-City | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2 |
Kamloops | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 3 |
First — 1, TC, McCue 15 (Sandhu, Lukin), 8:28. Penalties — Rayman, TC (checking from behind), 16:28.
Second — 2, Kam, Needham 10 (Shirley, Sideroff), :21. 3, Kam, Needham 11 (Rehill, Sideroff), 2:44. Penalties — Lukin, TC (tripping), 7:38.
Third — 4, TC, Coghlan 2 (James, Stewart), 8:48. 5, Kam, Needham 12 (Shirley, Sideroff), 10:51. Penalties — Verveda, Kam (roughing), 5:52; Campese, Kam (slashing), 12:08.
Shots — TC 7-10-13 — 30. Kam 9-16-7 — 32. Power plays — TC 0-2. Kam 0-2. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 14-19-2-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Kam, Ingram 17-9-4-2 (30-28). Referees — Steve Papp and Mark Pearce. A — 4,139.
This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Americans lose 3-2 in Kamloops."