Portland, OR. -- For the second consecutive night, a last-minute, extra attacker goal and just like the previous night, it was the boys from Kennewick who would come out on top in the end, as the Tri-City Americans scored late in overtime to defeat the Portland Winterhawks 4-3 Sunday, before a crowd of 6,375 at the Moda Center in Portland.
The two-teams, as is typical whenever they meet, battled fast and furious, but neither was able to dent the twine in the opening 20, keeping the game scoreless head into the second. In the middle frame, the two offences, held in check in the first, each struck twice. Joachim Blichfeld opened the scoring with his league-leading 31st goal of the season, assisted by Ryan Hughes and Clay Hanus at 1:06, putting the Hawks up 1-0. Tri-City would respond with a pair of goals to grab the lead. Kyle Olson scored his 7th from Riley Sawchuk at 6:40 to make it 1-1, then Sawchuk scored from Parker AuCoin and Aaron Hyman at 9:01, putting the visitors up 2-1. Portland would pull back into a tie less than a minute later, as Hughes scored from Hanus and Blichfeld at 9:54.
In the third, the Americans went back on top at 12:58 as Sawchuk scored his 11th from AuCoin and Sasha Mutala, making it a 3-2 game. It stayed that way until late. And just like Saturday, the trailing team pulled their goaltender and would strike for an extra attacker goal in the final minute. Jared Freadich scored for the Winterhawks from John Ludvig and Blichfeld at 19:26, tying the game 3-3 and forcing overtime for the third time in as many meetings between two two rivals this season., With time winding down and a shootout looming, Olson nailed his 8th of the year, thanks in part to a helper from Sawhuck, all with Hyman sitting in the box on a tripping penalty called at 2:40. The goal gave Tri-City their third overtime victory in the past eight days, with their season OT record improving to 4-1-4-1, in a league-high 10 overtime contests.
Shots were close again, with the Ams outshooting Portland 36-34. Beck Warm made 31 saves for Tri-City. His opposing netminder, Shane Farkas, made 32 saves for Portland. Neither team scored on the power play, the Americans in 5 chances, the Winterhawks in 4.
Tri-City ends the pre-holiday schedule with a slate of 17-12-1-1 for 36 points, 6 points behind Portland and Spokane, who are tied for second in the U.S. Division. The Americans have a firm grip on the #1 Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, 9 points ahead of Kamloops. The Winterhawks hit the break with a mark of 19-11-2-2 for 42 points.
Coming Up: The two teams open up their post-Christmas schedule against each other in Portland's Moda Center on Friday, December 28th at 7:00 pm. Tri-City then plays at Spokane on Saturday, December 29th, then host the Chiefs in their annual New Year's Eve matchup in the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Monday, December 31st.
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