Americans beat Kamloops, gain ground in playoff race
The Tri-City Americans got off to a fast start and never slowed down, beating the Kamloops Blazers 5-3 on Tuesday night at Toyota Center to run their win streak on home ice to five.
The Americans (23-25-2-0, 48 points) pulled within four points of No. 8 Portland in the Western Conference race for the playoffs. They also are three points up on Vancouver, with two games in hand over the Giants.
“It was a really good team effort,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “I think they have some confidence at home, which is good. We had really good ice time by everyone tonight. We stepped over the boards, had a good shift, and the next shift followed.”
Morgan Geekie and Mackenze Stewart scored in the first 2:42 of the game, and Vladislav Lukin gave the Americans a 3-0 lead at 15:43.
The Blazers cut the deficit to 3-1 at 6:50 of the second on the power play with a goal by Matt Revel, only to see Tri-City stretch its lead back to three goals less than a minute later with a goal by Parker Bowles — his team-leading 29th.
Gage Quinney had the last say for Kamloops, scoring on the power play with just 9 seconds left in the period for a 4-2 game.
Michael Rasmussen would finish the scoring for Tri-City at 8:15 of the third.
Evan Sarthou finished with 33 saves for Tri-City, which has won three in a row. Connor Ingram had 24 saves for the Blazers, which has lost seven of its last 10 games.
Americans 5, Blazers 3
Kamloops | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 5 |
First — 1, TC, Geekie 8 (Topping, Bowles), 1:12. 2, TC, Stewart 2 (AuCoin, Yaremko), 2:42. 3, TC, Lukin 16 (Sandhu), 15:43. Penalties — Chyzowski, Kam (interference), 3:01.
Second — 4, Kam, Revel 15 (Pilon, Kneen), 6:50 (pp). 5, TC, Bowles 29 (Geekie, Coghlan), 7:33. 6, Kam, Quinney 19 (Sideroff, Needham), 19:51 (pp). Penalties — Carlo, TC (tripping), 6:39; Benjafield, Kam, major (fighting), 9:25; Yaremko, TC, major (fighting), 9:25; Rasmussen, TC (cross-checking), 11:23; Lukin, TC (roughing), 19:11; Loewen, Kam (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.
Third — 7, TC, Rasmussen 11 (Carlo, Sandhu), 8:15. 8, Kam, Shirley 29 (Reagan, Pilon), 18:15. Penalties — Rasmussen, TC (high-sticking), 1:51.
Shots — Kam 6-14-16 — 36. TC 11-9-9 — 29. Power plays — Kam 2-4. TC 0-2. Goalies — Kam, Ingram 20-11-5-3 (29 shots-24 saves). TC, Sarthou 20-22-2-0 (36-33). Referees — Brett Iverson and Kevin Bennett. A — 2,686.
This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Americans beat Kamloops, gain ground in playoff race."