Topping scores twice as Tri-City Americans roll past Prince George 4-1

The Tri-City Americans’ playoff hunt continues.

Jordan Topping scored two third-period goals, and rookie Nick Sanders had 26 saves to lead the Americans to a 4-1 victory Tuesday over the Prince George Cougars before an announced crowd of 2,626 at Toyota Center.

“I liked our game at both ends of the ice,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “We limited their chances, and Nick did a nice job. I thought our ‘D’ played well and moved the puck well. Offensively, I’d like to see us generate more. We had some Grade A chances that didn’t go in.”

With 13 games remaining, the Americans (29-27-2-1, 61 points) are two points back of No. 8 Kamloops, three back of Spokane and four behind Portland in the race for a Western Conference playoff spot.

The Cougars (32-24-3-1, 68 points), who have lost two in a row, are fifth in the tightly contested conference.

Parker Bowles and Morgan Geekie also scored for the Americans, while Tyler Sandhu, Dylan Coghlan and Brandon Carlo all had two assists.

“With (Parker) Wotherspoon and Carls out there, Coghlan doesn’t get his name mentioned a lot, but he’s a big part of our ‘D’ corps and logs a lot of minutes for us,” Williamson said.

The Americans held a 2-0 lead going into the third, and Topping made it 3-0 at 5:03, pulling the puck around a Prince George defender and finding the net for his 25th goal.

After Chase Witala scored for the Cougars eight minutes later, Topping added an empty-net goal at 18:29.

“I thought it was great to get the win and keep battling for that last playoff spot,” Topping said. “We were solid on all zones, and it showed on the scoreboard. And a good job by Nick Sanders — he did a solid job for us. I think the boys have done a good job of keeping it simple and not letting it get to us.”

Sanders, who turned away all 12 Prince George shots through two periods, was bombarded by 15 in the third but gave up the one goal.

“The win is the most important thing,” said Sanders, who has won his past two starts. “I will do whatever it takes to get the win. The guys played really well in front of me, and offensively they were firing on all cylinders.”

Tri-City turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-0 advantage at 2:16 of the second. Michael Rasmussen threaded a nice pass to Geekie in front of the net, and Geekie scored his ninth goal of the season.

The Cougars, who had just three shots on goal in the first, managed nine in the second, including a breakaway by Brad Morrison at 7 minutes, but Sanders turned them all away.

The Americans thought they had scored the first goal of the game at 6:58 of the first, when Bowles knocked the puck away from Prince George’s Tate Olson and took off up ice.

Bowles’ shot was swallowed up by goalie Ty Edmonds, but the officials needed a video review to make sure the puck did not cross the goal line, which it did not.

Seventeen seconds later, Bowles did score, patiently waiting out the defense before firing the puck in the net. It was his team-leading 35th goal and 80th point of the season.

Training room

Prince George’s Sam Ruopp took a puck to the neck off a shot by Sandhu at 8:42 of the first period and was helped off the ice. The veteran defenseman was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Next up

The Americans will host the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday. Prince George is back at Toyota Center on Saturday, and Tri-City finishes the week with a road game against the Everett Silvertips on Sunday.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Topping scores twice as Tri-City Americans roll past Prince George 4-1."