VICTORIA 3
TRI-CITY 2 (SO)
Jack Walker’s lone goal in the shootout led the Victoria Royals to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington, on Saturday.
Goaltender Coleman Vollrath stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout for the Royals’ win after having shut out the Spokane Chiefs 3-0 on Friday.
Greg Chase presented the Royals with a 2-1 lead early in the third period with a breakaway tally, but Richard Nejezchleb scored his second of the night with just 52.1 seconds remaining in the stanza to force the overtime.
Victoria defenceman Bryton Sayers opened the scoring at 3:47 of the opening period before Vollrath had his shut-out streak snapped when Nejezchleb tallied on a power play at 13:15 of the second.
The Royals’ strong system play enabled them to take four of the six points on the three-game Western Hockey League road trip. They opened it up with a 4-3 loss in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday.
“I thought we were better tonight than we were [in Spokane],” said Royals’ head coach Dave Lowry. “We made a mistake with their goalie out to tie it, but I was pleased with our effort.”
Vollrath made 22 saves on Saturday after a 29-stop performance the night before and managed to grab that second point in the shootout after a goal-free overtime period.
“He was very good. All we ask is for our goaltenders to give us a chance, and he did that,” Lowry said.
Eric Comrie, who returned to the Americans’ lineup on Friday, took his second straight loss, making 29 saves.
The Royals now return home to play host to the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday before facing the defending Memorial Cup-champion Edmonton Oil Kings on the holiday Monday at 2 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
