The Americans were firing on all cylinders Saturday night in front of a rowdy crowd at the Toyota Center, winning 6-2 and handing the Prince Albert Raiders their first regulation loss of the season
1st Period
Tri-City had another rock-solid start to the game, with Cruz Pavao getting a good chance off the draw in the left circle, wiring a wrister that was sticked away.
The Americans broke through first against the Raiders, with Mason Mykichuk picking up his first career WHL goal.
Crew Martinson along the near boards backhanded one towards the net. Mykichuk had parked the bus in front of the net and banged it right past Fortin.
Mykichuk felt great after the game and said it can give him more confidence for the future, while also going over how he got his first goal.
“Feels awesome, first one of my career, back in the goal column and yeah the monkey is off my back now, playing better minutes so it’s nice. I am pretty sure it was Crew Martinson who just threw it to the net and I put my head down, drove to the net and got the puck in the back of the net.”
Americans Head Coach Jody Hull had some nice things to say about Mason Mykichuk after the game as well, also noting how big scoring first is in a game, as Tri-City is now 4-0 when scoring first.
“Anytime guys get their first goal, that’s awesome. He’s been doing a lot of extra stuff in practice, off the ice, been a healthy scratch, and it was nice to see him score. And any team would say it’s a great thing to score first, when you score first you get a little bit of swagger in your game, and it makes a big difference.”
By the first media timeout, Tri-City had held Prince Albert to just one shot — their third straight game of holding a team to one shot or fewer in the first eight minutes.
Prince Albert got a chance on the power play with eight minutes left in the first after a Jake Gudelj hold.
The Raiders came into the night with a power play operating at a whopping 28%, so it was critical that the Americans stayed out of the box, especially since Tri-City’s penalty kill was only at 65%.
The Americans were able to fortunately dodge a bullet and kill the penalty.
As the first period wound down, Prince Albert would level the game.
Riley Boychuk had a nice individual effort, toe-dragging in the right circle and going bar down on Xavier Wendt.
After the first period, the score was tied 1-1, and Tri-City was 1/1 on the penalty kill while holding a shot advantage of 11-10.
2nd Period
Following a slow start to the second period, Prince Albert took their first lead of the night at 9:12 after a slick play as the momentum slowly shifted.
Jonah Sivertson made a beautiful cross-ice feed to Justice Christesen, who slotted it past Wendt on the blocker side for his fourth goal of the year.
Cash Koch, on his Bobblehead Night, said “not so fast,” and Tri-City tied the game right back up. From that point on, the Americans would score five straight unanswered goals and dominate.
Gudelj fired a long shot from the right point that Fortin saved, but the rebound popped right to Koch, who was crashing the net and easily put the rebound home.
Shortly after, Tri-City got their first power play of the night and did not waste it, as the Ams’ treated their fans to some free Jack In The Box with that power play goal.
Jakub Vanecek fired a bomb of a one-timer from the point that beat Dmitri Fortin easily.
Under pressure, Xavier Wendt stayed composed, making several key saves to keep Tri-City in front with six minutes left in the second — including a huge sprawled-out pad save on the backdoor that fired up the Tri-City fans.
With all the momentum in their favor, the Americans had the chance to really break Prince Albert with a power play opportunity after Justice Christesen was called for interference.
Then, another critical error from Prince Albert came moments later, as the Raiders showed signs of losing their composure.
Aiden Oiring, one of Prince Albert’s leaders, made a careless trip in the Tri-City end on the forecheck, giving Tri-City a 5-on-3 power play for a full minute.
Everyone in the building felt a goal was coming, and Savin Virk made it a reality, making it 4-2 after a sharp-angled shot from below the right circle.
Hull spoke after the game about the resilience of the group after going down 2-1 and their bounce-back effort.
“That’s been our MO all year. We don’t give up, we don’t quit, we just keep pressing. And we’ve been a pretty resilient group. You know, in almost every game where we’ve gotten behind, we’ve been able to come back. So that’s just an important piece and makeup of what our team’s all about.”
Tri-City stayed on the power play for another full minute after that but couldn’t convert again.
Jake Gudelj fired one wide on the backdoor just after the power play expired — a missed chance to put the game on ice.
Prince Albert’s rookie defenseman, Benet Kelly, then ran straight through his own goalie, causing a whistle as Fortin slowly got to his feet. The Raiders were clearly showing frustration and a lack of focus after getting outplayed heavily and botching the lead.
That would do it for the second period, as Tri-City bounced back in dominant fashion, scoring three straight unanswered goals in the second to take the lead back. The Ams’ were now 20 minutes away from knocking off the Raiders and handing them their first regulation loss.
3rd Period
The third period would show whether Tri-City was capable of holding a lead and locking down the game against a top club — and proving that last night’s win over Vancouver was no fluke, and did they ever prove it.
The period started off sluggish, with Prince Albert slowly gaining momentum as the game neared the halfway point. Shots were 3-1 in favor of the Raiders ten minutes in, as Tri-City spent most of the period playing defense.
Jody Hull decided to use his timeout with eight minutes left, which may have surprised some.
“That was just because of the matchup and extended shift on the ice, they put out their top line and I am a matchup guy. I just wanted to make sure they didn’t get any little bit of momentum to try and start something so that’s why I called timeout.”
The first true chance came on a 3-on-2 rush for Tri-City with a little over seven minutes left, but Jaxen Adam’s shot went into the chest of Fortin.
Max Heise of Prince Albert turned the tide back in favor of Tri-City by throwing the puck out of play, giving Tri-City their fourth power play of the night and a chance to put the game away for good.
Gavin Garland would indeed put this game to rest, scoring what will probably be the easiest power play goal of his career.
Prince Albert had two of their own players fall into Fortin along with Connor Dale of Tri-City, Prince Albert players would then pin down Dale who was on top of Fortin, resulting in an easy chance for Gavin Garland. Garland picked his spot from the right circle and called game, as Tri-City capitalized for the third time on the power play — sending Ams fans to Burger Ranch for the second night in a row.
The Raiders argued that American’s players shoved them in, but replay showed the opposite. It was confirmed as a good goal almost instantly, and 5-2 Tri-City with 6:39 left.
The score stayed the same until there were three minutes left, and Tri-City forward Cruz Pavao added to it late, sliding the puck into an empty net after stealing the puck and getting past the Prince Albert defense off the draw in the American’s end. That makes it three goals in the past four games for Pavao.
Postgame / What’s Next
Tri-City improved to 8-7-1 and are on a heater, winning three straight and collecting points in four consecutive games. The win also moves the Americans into a playoff spot, sitting eighth in the Western Conference.
Tri-City outshot Prince Albert 32-29, went 3/5 on the power play, and were perfect 2/2 on the penalty kill.
Hull reflected on the 6-2 victory over the last undefeated team in regulation.
“It’s early in the season, they haven’t played too many games. I think the guys look at it as a big win, but I don’t look at it like that. I look at the way we played and that’s what is important for me and we’re playing the right way and doing the right things and we’re getting the results. Tonight I saw a team that was determined, that did not want to let each other down and the crowd. We got the stretch of home games here, and we have to take advantage of it, and we have started off on the right note.”
Mason, on the other hand, as a player, agreed it was a big win but emphasized the need to stay focused while going over what’s been driving the team’s success lately.
“It means a lot. Prince Albert picked up their first regular-season loss. This gives us a lot of confidence, but we just can’t get too comfortable and we have to just go from there, build off it. We’re on a three game heater, so let’s hope we make it more. The home crowd is a big part to our success, the Toyota Center gets rowdy. The team coming together as well, we’re family in the room, whenever we need to dial in, we’re always dialed, and when it’s time to have fun, it’s time to have fun.”
Jakub Vanecek picked up first-star honors with a four-point night, including that one-time blast from the point that gave Tri-City the lead on the power play. Xavier Wendt earned second star with 27 saves, including key stops at pivotal moments that swung momentum in Tri-City’s favor. Crew Martinson was named third star with two assists, giving him points in back-to-back games.
The Americans will continue their homestand next Friday against a tough Everett Silvertips team, who at the time of writing are 13-1-2.
