Americans drop 4-2 game to Spokane
After a hot run that included three wins in a row and eight of 10, the Tri-City Americans took a step backward Saturday, dropping a 4-2 road game to the Spokane Chiefs.
With the loss the Americans (28-27-2-1, 59 points) are three points behind No. 8 Kamloops in a race for a Western Conference playoff spot. Tri-City has 14 games remaining in which to avoid missing the playoff for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
Spokane jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, getting goals by Hudson Elynuik, Ethan McIndoe and Jacob Cardiff.
Parker Wotherspoon and Parker Bowles each scored in the second for the Americans, who outshot the Chiefs 13-6 in the period.
For Bowles, it was his team-leading 34th goal. He also leads the team with 79 points.
The Chiefs (28-22-5-3, 64 points) finished the scoring with a short-handed goal by Elynuik in the third period.
Evan Sarthou took the loss, finishing with 17 saves. Spokane’s Tyson Verhelst stopped 25 of 27 shots.
Tri-City will host Prince George on Tuesday, Seattle on Friday and Prince George on Saturday.
Chiefs 4, Americans 2
Tri-City | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 |
Spokane | 3 | 0 | 1 | — | 4 |
First — 1, Spo, Elynuik 15 (Miske, Sozanski), 2:12 (pp). 2, Spo, McIndoe 8 (Ke.Yamamoto, Kopeck), 6:09. 3, Spo, Cardiff 7 (Bechtold), 18:33. Penalties — Bowles, TC (elbowing), 1:59; O’Reilly, TC, minor-major (instigating, fight, misconduct), 4:03; Bechtold, Spo, major (fighting), 4:03; Rasmussen, TC (hooking), 6:37; Wotherspoon, TC (slashing), 10:18; Rayman, TC (boarding), 13:28; Helgesen, Spo (interference), 19:40.
Second — 4, TC, Wotherspoon 11 (Bowles, Sandhu), 3:24. 5, TC, Bowles 34 (Sandhu, Wotherspoon), 16:24. Penalties — James, TC (cross-checking), 7:24; Kopeck, Spo (tripping), 10:51; James, TC (hooking), 17:19.
Third — 6, Spo, Elynuik 16, 6:51 (sh). Penalties — McIndoe, Spo (roughing), 6:35; Bowles, TC (butt-ending), 20:00; Topping, TC (misconduct), 20:00; Elynuik, Spo (roughing), 20:00.
Shots — TC 5-13-9 — 27. Spo 10-6-5 — 21. Power plays — TC 0-3. Spo 1-7. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 24-24-2-0 (21 shots-17 saves). Spo, Verhelst 21-17-1-3 (27-25). Referees — Sean Raphael and Derek Zalaski. A — 9,534.
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Americans drop 4-2 game to Spokane."