RECAP: Americans battle back but fall in shootout to Spokane
Kennewick, WA. – Tri-City Americans (0-0-0-1) battled back from a 2-1 deficit through two periods of play Saturday night but couldn’t complete the comeback in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Spokane Chiefs (1-0-0-0) at the Toyota Center.
Spokane opened the scoring early in the game on their first power play of the season. Owen Schoettler let a shot go from the blue line that deflected off a Tri-City stuck and knuckled past the blocker of Xavier Wendt 3:17 into the game.
The Chiefs had plenty of puck possession in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Americans 13-6 after the first period.
Spokane’s lead doubled 4:45 into the second period as Jan Brabenec jumped on a rebound off to Wendt’s right for his first WHL goal, putting Tri-City in a 2-0 hole.
Four minutes the later Americans went to their first power play of the game and cut into the lead. Much like Schoettler’s goal, Dylan LeBret fired the puck from the midpoint through traffic and beat Carter Esler past the glove, getting the Americans on the board. It was the second straight season LeBret scored the first goal of the year for Tri-City.
Ben Oliverio and Crew Martinson picked up assists on the goal, with Oliverio’s being his first career point.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the third, the Americans had their strongest period of the night over the final frame. Nearly halfway through the third Tri-City pulled even.
After Grady Martin took the puck away from a Spokane player in the Americans end, he fed it to Martinson in the neutral zone. Martinson bumped the puck to the left wing for Evan Wanner who streaked into the Spokane zone.
Driving down the left wing toward the Chiefs net, Wanner snapped the puck on goal and snuck it under the blocker of Esler to tie the game with his first WHL goal 9:04 into the third.
The goal sparked the Americans who began pouring on the pressure, looking for their first lead of the night, but Esler shut the door to keep the game tied.
Spokane nearly won the game in regulation as they had a two-on-one rush with less than 30 seconds to go, but Gavin Burcar couldn’t tap in the back door feed as the game went to overtime.
The Chiefs had the puck for the majority of overtime but it was the Americans who had the best scoring chances. In the final minute, Cruz Pavao just missed the net while walking down the slot, then gathered his own rebound and fed it to David Huk in between the faceoff dots, but he was robbed by a diving Esler to force the game to a shootout.
Pavao started off by scoring for Tri-City, pushing his career mark in shootouts to a perfect 7-for-7. The next four shooters were stopped, giving the Americans a chance to win, but Burcar scored as Spokane’s last chance to extend the shootout.
Martinson was then denied by Esler and Ozzie McIntyre had his shot deflect off the glove of Wendt and in, giving Spokane the extra point.
The Americans now turn to next weekend when they host the Kamloops Blazers (0-1-0-0) on Friday before heading to Spokane for a rematch with the Chiefs on Saturday.
Announced attendance was 3,391.
