TCH: Americans fall to Spokane 7-3
By Annie Fowler | Tri-City Herald
The Tri-City Americans are barely keeping their head above water, and Saturday’s loss rival Spokane was like a giant wave washing over their heads.
The Chiefs scored four unanswered goals in the third period to turn a close game into a 7-3 victory before a crowd of 4,342 at Toyota Center, and end a four-game slide.
“Tonight was a different game than last night,” said Americans coach Jim Hiller of the 10-3 loss to Portland on Friday. “When we made mistakes (tonight), they piled them on. Moral of the story is you can’t break down defensively.”
With ninth-place Prince George posting back-to-back wins over Red Deer, the Cougars now are within two points of the eighth-place Americans (26-24-2-3, 57 points). PG has clawed its way back into the playoff race by winning six consecutive games.
“We need to come back and be ready to rumble on our road trip,” said Tri-City defenseman Mitch Topping, who had two assists in playing his 300th Western Hockey League game.
The Americans are at Kamloops on Monday, at Victoria on Wednesday, at Seattle on Friday and at Spokane next Saturday.
