Americans shut out by Seattle 4-0

The Tri-City Americans had a chance to gain a little ground Sunday on the teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings, but Seattle derailed their plans.

The Thunderbirds, one of the stingiest teams in the Western Hockey League, won their eighth game in a row, beating the Americans 4-0 before a Toyota Center crowd of 3,097.

“We had a tough time generating anything,” said Tri-City coach Mike Williamson, whose squad mustered just 17 shots. “We had a couple of chances early and didn’t score on them. We didn’t have a lot of energy. We have to put this behind us. We play Tuesday, and we need two points out of that one.”

The Americans (31-32-2-1, 65 points) remain four points back of No. 8 Spokane and five behind Portland in the race for a playoff spot.

“There’s no time to be tired,” Williamson said. “You just have to play. We have to spread the ice time — we have to find a way to get energy every night.”

Seattle (40-23-3-0, 83 points), which clinched a playoff spot Saturday win a win over Portland, has won 12 of its past 13 games.

“You want to be playing your best hockey down the stretch,” Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “It’s nice when you can do it in other team’s buildings. It’s tough to win right now on the road, but the guys are finding a way to get it done.”

After a disappearing act by both offenses the first 35 minutes of the game, the Thunderbirds came to life late in the second as Donovan Neuls gathered a rebound off a shot by Scott Eansor and got the puck past Nick Sanders for a 1-0 Seattle lead at 15:03.

Just 25 seconds later, Cavin Leth gave the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead, forcing a turnover at the Tri-City blue line and going top shelf on Sanders.

“I thought in the second we were close and their goalie made some saves,” Konowalchuk said. “We finally got the first one, and that gave us life and took it out of them a little.”

Seattle scored two more goals in the third, the first coming from Alexander True. True shot the puck over the net, and it ricocheted off the glass, hit Sanders in the back and dropped into the net.

Andreas Schumacher added an empty-net goal at 14:44.

Getting his second consecutive start, Sanders finished with 31 saves.

“I thought he played well,” Williamson said of his rookie goalie. “He made a spectacular save in the first, and one goal in the third was a bad break.”

Tri-City’s best scoring chances in the second saw Mackenze Stewart ring the puck off the post with 1:36 left in the second, and Vladislav Lukin get denied by Logan Flodell, who finished with 17 saves for his third shutout this season.

An entertaining first period had just 10 stoppages of play, and each team had a couple of quality scoring opportunities, but no one could find the back of the net.

With daylight to the side of Flodell, Tri-City’s Jordan Topping put the puck over the net 4 minutes into the game, and Max James hit the post 4 minutes later.

The Thunderbirds, who had one shot on goal through the first 11 minutes, had sustained pressure late in the period, but good defense in front of the net and an acrobatic save by Sanders kept the game scoreless.

The Americans, whose power play ranks third in the WHL, had two opportunities on the man advantage on the night, but Seattle’s top-ranked penalty kill shut them down.

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Americans shut out by Seattle 4-0."