RECAP: Americans win fourth straight with 4-1 victory over Portland
Kennewick, WA – The Tri-City Americans (17-13-2-0) opened the second half of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Winterhawks (18-16-0-0) Saturday night, their fourth win in a row.
After a sluggish start between the two teams, as neither team had a shot on goal in the opening four minutes, the pace of play ramped up considerably. Just over the halfway mark of the first, Tri-City opened the scoring.
Portland turned the puck over behind their own net as Gavin Garland intercepted a pass and worked the puck out to the front of the net. Connor Dale was parked in front and jammed the puck past Cruz Chase for his 13th of the season.
Just 10 seconds later Portland responded on a near identical play. Reed Brown picked up a pass behind the Tri-City net before sliding the puck to the slot for Luke Wilfley who pounded a one timer past Xavier Wendt for his first WHL goal, tying the game at one.
The score remained tied heading into the first intermission with the shots tied at 10.
Early in the middle frame the Americans regained the lead. After forcing a turnover at the Tri-City blue line, Crew Martinson poked the puck out to center ice to send the Americans on an odd-man rush.
Tomas Racz gained the Portland line on right wing before feeding the puck across to Martinson in the left circle, and Martinson snapped a wrist shot over the glove of Chase 3:37 into the second period. It was Martinson’s fifth goal of the season.
The game had a physical edge to it early which carried over through most of the night. There were several post-whistle scrums and a pair of fights during the game. Carter Savage squared off with Reed Brown late in the second period, igniting the crowd heading into the third.
After killing off a penalty to start the final period, the Americans limited Portland’s chances as the Winterhawks registered just seven shots on goal over the final 20 minutes.
With the game still 2-1 entering the final minutes, Tri-City capitalized on another Portland turnover to get some breathing room.
Carter Sotheran tried to work his way down the slot of the Americans zone but was poke checked and lost the puck. Savin Virk and Dale took off the other way on an odd-man rush, and Virk held onto the puck before firing it past Chase’s blocker arm from the right circle with 4:21 remaining.
Portland pulled Chase for the extra attacker just moments after the ensuing faceoff, and after Wendt made a great pad save on Ryan Miller in the slot, Virk hit the empty net on a breakaway to seal the 4-1 win.
The two teams meet again tomorrow afternoon in Portland for a 4:00 puck drop.
Announced attendance was 5,009.
