Hawks strike first but fall 6-1 in Kennewick

The Winterhawks scored first but stumbled from there as the Americans took a 5-1 win in the front half of a home-and-home.

Game #47: Portland (1) at Tri-City (6)

SOG: POR (29) – TC (31)

PP: POR (0/1) – TC (2/6)

Saves: Špunar (25/31) – Suchanek (28/29)

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

SCORING:

• POR – 8:30 – First Period – Marcus Nguyen (14) from Luca Cagnoni
• TC – 0:43 – Second Period – Marc Lajoie (4) from Jordan Gavin and Jake Sloan
• TC – 12:37 – Second Period – Adam Mechura (15) from Tyson Greenway and Jordan Gavin
• TC – 4:37 – Third Period – Andrew Fan (5) from Deagan McMillan and Elouann Lemonnier
• TC – 5:58 – Third Period – Ethan Ernst (28)
• TC – 6:55 – Third Period – Jordan Gavin (14) from Jake Sloan and Reese Belton
• TC – 17:32 – Third Period – Jake Sloan (18) from Adam Mechura and Marc Lajoie

The Story:

Marcus Nguyen tallied early for the Winterhawks (34-10-2-1), but the Tri-City Americans (25-16-4-1) roared back with five unanswered goals for a 5-1 victory in Kennewick on Friday.

Nguyen’s tally was a spectacular individual effort, collecting the puck just shy of the midway line and slipping it through a defender’s legs before racing around the Tri-City skaters down the left side and placing a pinpoint shot into the top corner at 8:30 of the first.

Portland carried that lead into the second stanza but the Americans quickly responded, tying the game just 43 seconds into the period on Marc Lajoie’s fourth of the year. Twelve minutes later, Adam Mechura found twine on the power play to make it 2-1.

The third period saw more of the same, as Tri-City’s Ethan Ernst and Jordan Gavin each lit the lamp within a minute of one another and Jake Sloan wrapped things up with a late PPG to seal his team’s victory.

The two clubs will face off again tomorrow at 6:00 P.M. at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT presented by BBF TECHNOLOGIES:

“Tri is one of the hottest teams in the league recently so we knew what we were going against tonight. I thought we started off strong. Every game is important. Any team can win in this league. You know we need to have a short memory, bounce back tomorrow and show them what we’re made of.”

Winterhawks forward Marcus Nguyen