RECAP: Americans (8) vs Silvertips (6) – November 8
Kennewick, WA – Tri-City Americans (11-3-1-0) scored a season-high eight goals on their way to a 10th straight victory with an 8-6 decision over the Everett Silvertips (13-3-1-0) Friday night.
Everett opened the scoring on a power play goal from Tyler McKenzie 7:31 into the first period. A shot Tarin Smith was stopped by Lukas Matecha, but the rebound dropped right to McKenzie in the crease for the tap in goal.
The Americans went to a power play of their own two minutes later and Jackson Smith made a great pass across the slot to Gavin Garland who tied the game with his ninth of the season. Cash Koch picked up a second assist on the goal.
Later in the period, on another power play, Koch took a centering feed from Garland and fired home his fifth goal of the year to give Tri-City a 2-1 lead heading into intermission.
Tri-City added a third consecutive power play goal halfway through the second period. Jordan Gavin had the puck in the right circle and spotted Jake Gudelj open at the back post, firing the puck to him for Gudelj to redirect in his sixth goal of the season. It also marked the fourth straight game with a goal for Gudelj.
In the final minutes of the period the Americans score twice in less than a minute to take a commanding 5-1 lead. First was Gavin tipping a long shot by Max Curran for his sixth of the season at 17:18.
Brandon Whynott then had the puck in the Everett zone off the rush and found Carter MacAdams trailing the play. Whynott fed MacAdams the puck through traffic and he skated toward the net before sneaking a shot past the blocker of Alex Garrett to give the Americans the 5-1 lead heading into the third.
The Silvertips came out in the third period looking like a completely different team, consistently pressuring the Americans and chipping away at the lead.
Julien Maze and Caine Wilke scored 59 seconds apart to force Tri-City to call their 30-second timeout before Jesse Heslop added another goal at 6:16 to make it a one-goal game.
A turnover in the neutral zone saw the Americans skate into the Everett zone on a two-on-one rush, and MacAdams scored his second of the game to turn the tide in the game. Just over two minutes later Curran scored the Americans fourth power play goal of the game to push the lead to 7-4.
Koch then scored his second of the night to give Tri-City an 8-4 lead before the Silvertips responded with two goals in under two minutes to bring it back to 8-6. Everett pulled Garrett for the extra attacker but couldn’t get any closer as the Americans held on for the 8-6 win
The 10-game winning streak marks the first time since the 2011-12 season that Tri-City has hit a double-digit winning streak. That season they won 13 in a row from December 2 to January 7.
The Americans host the Red Deer Rebels (9-6-1-0) Saturday night for a 6:05 puck drop at the Toyota Center.
Announced attendance was 3,509.
;
