RECAP: Americans battle back but fall short in Penticton
Penticton, B.C. – Tri-City Americans (0-3-0-1) cut the Penticton Vees (4-2-0-0) lead from 3-0 to 3-2 with goals just 47 seconds apart Saturday night, but couldn’t find the tying goal in a 4-2 loss to the Vees at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Early in the game it was the Vees opening the scoring. A turnover behind the Tri-City net saw Tyler Deakos quickly work the puck to the slot for Gavin Katz who pulled the puck to his backhand and lift a shot over the blocker of Xavier Wendt. The goal came 4:18 after puck drop.
Eight minutes later the Vees extended their lead as Graham Jones took a stretch pass and skated into the Americans zone on right wing. He let a shot go from the faceoff circle that snuck under the blocker arm of Wendt and slid into the net to push it to 2-0. Following the goal, Jones skated by the Tri-City bench and had some choice words, resulting in him receiving a 10-minute misconduct.
The Americans went to the locker room trailing 2-0 with the shots 12-5 Penticton.
The Vees pushed their lead to 3-0 with a power play goal just 2:25 into the middle frame. Tyden Bergeson took a pass off the rush and beat Wendt over the shoulder coming down the left wing for the goal.
Tri-City went to the power play for the first time late in the second as Nate Pederson was called for a faceoff violation. Just 31 seconds into the man advantage Eli McKamey fed the puck across the ice and Owen Kraft snapped the puck on goal, getting it through Vees goaltender Kaenan Smith for his first WHL goal to cut into the lead.
Less than a minute later the two teams went to four-on-four and Tri-City struck again. An excellent forecheck by Grady Martin saw him take the puck away below the Vees goal line and pass it to the slot for McKamey.
He used a Vees defender as a screen and snapped a shot past the blocker of Smith just 47 seconds after Kraft’s goal to get the Americans within one.
Tri-City killed off another penalty before the period ended, heading into the third period trailing 3-2.
The third period started slow for both teams as only a handful of pucks got towards either net for the first half of the third. The Americans best chance to tie the game came with under five minutes to play.
Crew Martinson skated into Vees zone on a two-on-one rush and ripped a shot off the crossbar. The puck shot straight down into the blue paint, and while falling over backwards, Vees goaltender Kaenen Smith was able to get his glove on the loose puck just moments before Martinson was looking to poke it in to tie the game.
That was as close as the Americans would come as Graham Jones hit the empty net from his own zone to seal a 4-2 Penticton win.
Tri-City kicks off a busy four-game week by hosting the Lethbridge Hurricanes (1-4-0-0) Wednesday night at the Toyota Center. Fans can purchase $10 tickets in select sections at the Toyota Center box office.
