Portland, OR. – The Tri-City Americans (26-31-4-1) and Portland Winterhawks (27-28-5-1) played a low-scoring, tight checking affair at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Sunday afternoon, with the Americans falling by a score of 3-1.
Winterhawks open the scoring early
The Winterhawks scored the game’s opening goal 3:18 after puck drop. A long shot from the blue line got deflected on its way to the net and was then gathered by Max Psenicka in front. He quickly pulled it to his forehand and put it into the open net giving Portland the early lead.
A scrap between Jaxen Adam and Reed Brown took place a minute later, with the Americans going to the power play afterwards, but they couldn’t connect to tie the game.
Tri-City killed off a penalty of their own late in the period as the first period ended with Portland leading 1-0 and the shots tied at nine.
After killing off another power play 4:45 into the second, the Americans went to their second power play at 9:10. With just a few seconds left in the penalty Jake Gudelj took a cross-ice pass, skated to the slot and fired a shot past the blocker of Ondrej Stebetak to tie the game. The goal was the 100th point of Gudelj’s WHL career.
The game didn’t stay tied for long, however, as Portland responded just 22 seconds later. A bouncing puck in the slot of the Americans zone was picked up by Nathan Brown and he snapped a quick shot past Xavier Wendt’s glove, restoring the Winterhawks lead.
The Americans trailed 2-1 heading into the third, despite outshooting Portland 24-18.
Winterhawks seal the win late
Portland started the third period with some jump, quickly closing the gap in shots on goal while pouring on the pressure in the Tri-City zone.
Wendt held his ground to keep the Americans within a goal, but the puck spent more time in the Tri-City end of the ice over the final 20 minutes.
The Americans pulled Wendt for the extra attacker late, but Portland was able to get the puck down the ice and seal the win with an empty net goal before the clock hit zero. Final shots were 33-27 Winterhawks.
Americans head to Kamloops next
The Americans next game comes Wednesday when they travel North to meet the Kamloops Blazers (28-22-7-5).