The Tri-City Americans were flat-out embarrassed Saturday night, falling 7-1 to the Spokane Chiefs in front of one of their largest crowds of the season (5,332).
After striking first, Tri-City unraveled, surrendering seven unanswered goals in a lopsided rivalry loss that marked their seventh straight defeat.
First Period
Early on, Tri-City showed life.
Savin Virk, Lukas Krcal, and Jake Garland generated quality chances, while Carter Esler kept Spokane steady in the early going. The Americans looked energized, perhaps fueled by the rivalry, and for the first time in what seemed to be forever ago, they appeared to dictate the pace of the game early.
That push paid off.
After forcing a turnover deep in the Spokane zone, Savin Virk found himself with space along the far boards. He cut in front on his backhand and slid it past Esler for his 23rd goal of the season — a new career high — snapping a five-game goal drought and giving Tri-City a 1-0 lead.
The momentum lasted just 30 seconds as Spokane would seemingly control the rest of the game.
On a three-on-one rush, Tyus Sparks of Spokane attacked the net while defenseman Dylan LeBret attempted to take away the passing lanes. Sparks was left with a clear look and beat Xavier Wendt to tie the game.
Discipline quickly became an issue. Ismail Abogouche was penalized after chopping Coco Armstrong’s stick in half while trying to recover a puck. Spokane entered the night with the league’s worst power play (12.5%), but that didn’t matter. Chase Harrington tipped one home for a rare power-play goal, just the 26th of the year for Spokane, giving Spokane a 2-1 lead which they would only build on as the night went on.
Despite the deficit, Tri-City could at least point to a solid start and an opening goal — something they hadn’t achieved in the previous five games.
Second Period
The game turned quickly in the second and Spokane walked away with the game.
Charlie Elick’s skate blade broke in front of the Tri-City net, leaving him stranded. Spokane capitalized immediately. On an odd-man rush, Coco Armstrong found Owen Martin wide open in the left circle, and Martin wired home a one-timer to make it 3-1.
At the first media timeout, Spokane had seized control of possession and held a 4-0 edge in second-period shots.
Then came the sequence that effectively ended the night.
Moments after a Tri-City power play expired, Connor Dale nearly jammed home a rebound that would have made it a one-goal game. Instead, play was whistled dead, and four seconds into Spokane’s ensuing power play, Logan Wormald fired a point shot that Harrington tipped in for his second of the night.
In a five-second span, it went from potentially 3-2 to 4-1.
Spokane wasn’t done.
Not long after, Sarkenov tipped in another at the net front for his third goal of the season, extending the lead to 5-1.
Late in the period, the night took a more serious turn. Cohen Harris drove defenseman Carter Savage awkwardly into the boards in an ugly collision. Savage suffered a severe lower-body injury and was attended to on the ice before being stretchered off. The period was cut short due to the extended delay, with the remaining time to be played after intermission.
Third Period
The third began in unusual fashion with a faceoff in the Spokane zone as Tri-City started a five-minute power play stemming from the major penalty.
Any hopes of a comeback were erased almost immediately.
Owen Martin fed Sam Oremba on a three-on-three rush, and Oremba’s one-timer slipped past Wendt’s glove for a shorthanded goal, making it 6-1.
After 2:56 of play, another brief intermission was taken to complete the unusual timing structure.
Spokane added one more late to seal the 7-1 rout. Six different Chiefs found the back of the net in a dominant effort.
Postgame / What’s Next
Tri-City (25-25-3-1) has now dropped seven straight and sits outside the playoff picture for the first time in a long time after being a top five team in the West on New Years Day.
Head coach Jody Hull acknowledged the slide.
“I hope they are [nervous],” Hull said when asked whether standings pressure may be affecting the team. “We had a solid playoff spot even two weeks ago, and that has dwindled away. We just have to keep pushing and pressing.”
Hull was nearly speechless trying to explain how a promising first 10 minutes evaporated.
I can’t put a finger on it, you know we talk about it, we work on things in practice, and we get to a game and it seems like we can’t apply it. It’s definitely frustrating from a coaching standpoint, but at the end of the day, you know, you just got to keep pushing and moving forward. And there was probably a bit of energy from the guys through the first ten minutes early due to it being a rivalry game, but at the same time that should have been the same energy we played the rest of the game with. And that’s the unique about coaching, is like where did that energy go because we did have a good first period, and where did that go, and we just have not found that recipe yet.”
With Tri-City playing Spokane quite a few times over the next few weeks, Jody Hull was asked on what it would take to beat them as both teams know each other so well.
“It really comes down to playing desperate, and playing disciplined, and being committed to the process and structure, and seeing what can happen really.”
In net, Xavier Wendt allowed seven goals on 32 shots and has now dropped five straight starts.
No update was available on Carter Savage beyond confirmation that X-rays were taken.
Tri-City will try to regroup quickly as they travel to face the Everett Silvertips on Sunday afternoon at 4:05 p.m., looking to salvage the weekend and stop the bleeding before it worsens.
