Kennewick, WA. – The Tri-City Americans (8-9-1-0) battled back from a 3-0 deficit after two periods against the Penticton Vees (10-7-2-2) Saturday night but couldn’t complete the comeback in a 3-2 loss.
Tri-City ran into penalty trouble early in the game, heading to the penalty kill just 13 seconds after the puck dropped. While they killed off that penalty, Penticton received another power play two minutes after the first one ended.
With just five seconds remaining on that man advantage, the Vees opened the scoring. Ethan Weber went to the front of the Americans net and took a centering pass from below the goal line, quickly snapping a shot through the fivehole of Xavier Wendt. The goal came 6:31 into the game.
Penticton then added to their lead late in the period when Ryden Evers wired a wrist shot over the blocker of Wendt off the rush, sending the Vees into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Vees Extend Their Lead in the Second Period
The gap widened further just over three minutes into the second period as Matteo Danis jumped on a rebound to extend Penticton’s lead to 3-0.
Tri-City had a difficult time generating sustained pressure inside the Penticton zone through the opening 40 minutes on Saturday but finally broke through in the third.
The Vees had the puck in the Americans zone and an aggressive pinch at the blue line by a Penticton defender led to the Americans first goal. The puck was cleared to center ice after that pinch, sending David Krcal away on a partial breakaway.
With one hand on his stick, Krcal was able to fend off the last defenseman back before muscling the puck on net, sliding it past A.J. Reyelts for his second goal of the year.
The goal clearly sparked the Americans who started to control more of the play, eventually leading to another goal.
Power-Play Goal Brings Tri-City Within One
While on the power play, Tri-City threw the puck toward the Penticton net, and it deflected to the blocker side of Reyelts. Dylan LeBret got his stick on it to shovel it toward the net where it banked off the back of Reyelts skate and in, cutting the Vees lead down to one with 10:43 to play.
Tri-City outshot Penticton 10-8 in the third period, eventually pulling Wendt for the extra attacker, but they couldn’t find the tying goal, falling 3-2.
Looking Ahead
The six-game homestand for the Americans continues Tuesday night when they welcome the Kamloops Blazers (9-9-2-2) to the Toyota Center.
Announced attendance was 4,007.