The Tri-City Americans defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 7-3 in a Western Hockey League game Friday night at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
The Thunderbirds are in second place in the U.S. Division, three points behind the Silvertips who have two games in hand.
The T-Birds return home to play the Kelowna Rockets at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the ShoWare Center. They finish out the weekend on Kent ice against the Everett Silvertips at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.
A pair of Kyle Olson’s goal gave Tri-City (37-23-3-0) a quick cushion.
Rylan Toth replaced Carl Stankowski in Seattle’s net after the second Americans goal.
Seattle (38-18-3-2) cut the Americans lead to one goal at 8:51 of the first on the power play. Donovan Neuls had the puck on the left wing on a T-Birds break up ice. Neuls passed the puck to Austin Strand in the low slot and he took a shot. Tri-City goalie Rylan Parenteau made the save, but a scramble ensued in front of the goalie. The puck popped out to Jarret Tyszka in the slot, beating Parenteau with a snap shot high for his sixth goal of the season.
The Americans took a 6-1 lead with four goals in the first 8:06 of the second period. Austyn Playfair scored 27 seconds into the period followed by Nolan Yaremko at 3:06. Keltie Jeri-Leon scored at 4:47 and Brett Leason scored at 8:06.
Stankowski came back on for Toth after the Americans’ fourth goal of the period. Toth made 14 saves on 18 shots and his record is now 31-17-1-1.
Keegan Kolesar took a feed from Ryan Gropp on the power play and beat Parenteau at 15:30 of the second. Ethan Bear had the second assist, extended his point streak to 10 games. Kolesar extended his point streak to nine games on the goal.
Playfair scored at 19:28 of the second to get the Americans’ seventh goal.
Austin Strand scored on a wrist shot at 13:31 of the third period to get the T-Birds third goal of the game. Anthony Bishop and Zack Andrusiak had the assists.
The T-Birds outshot the Americans 13-4 in the third period and 39-35 in the game.
Stankowski finished the game with 14 saves on 17 shots.
Parenteau made 36 saves on 39 shots and his record is now 24-12-1-0.
Game tickets are on sale. Order online.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Tri-City, Olson 16 (Playfair), :53. 2, Tri-City, Olson 17 (Topping, Sandhu), 3:43. 3, Seattle, Tyszka 6 (Strand, Neuls), 8:51 (pp). Penalties – Yorke, Tri (elbow), 7:27. Yorke, Tri (interference), 9:54.
Second period – 4, Tri-City, Playfair 2 (Yaremko, Coghlan), :27. 5, Tri-City, Yaremko 8 (James), 3:09. 6, Tri-City, Jeri-Leon 2 (Sawchuk, Wotherspoon), 4:47. 7, Tri-City, Leason 7 (Geekie, Wotherspoon), 8:06. 8, Seattle, Kolesar 20 (Gropp, Bear), 15:30. 9, Tri-City, Playfair 3 (Yaremko, James), 19:28. Penalties – Kolesar, Sea (slashing), 9:13. Ottenbreit, Sea (major-fighting), 11:27. James, Tri (major-fighting), 11:27. O’Reilly, Tri (holding), 12:06. O’Reilly, Tri (interference), 15:09. Tyszka, Sea (interference), 17:04. Geekie, Tri (10-minute misconduct), 17:56. Valimaki, Tri (slashing), 19:41.
Third period – 10, Seattle, Strand 7 (Bishop, Andrusiak), 13:31. Penalties – Barzal, Sea (high-sticking), :51. Kolesar, Sea (major-fighting), 3:50. Yaremko, Tri (unsportsmanlike conduct, major-fighting), 3:50. Andrusiak, Sea (), 14:40. Yorke, Tri (major-fighting), 14:40. Kolesar, Sea (major-fighting), 14:40.
Shots on goal – Seattle 15-11-13 39, Tri-City 15-16-4 35. Goalies – Seattle, Stankowski 17 shots-14 saves, Toth 18-14 (31-17-1-1); Tri-City, Parenteau 39-36 (24-12-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 2-7; Tri-City 0-4. A – 5,318. Referees – Adam Griffiths, Dexter Rasmussen. Linesmen – Michael Labbe, Nathan Van Oosten.
