VICTORIA 7
TRI CITY 3
The Victoria Royals continue to confound.
After losing two straight games to Western Hockey League lesser-lights Vancouver and Red Deer, the Royals rebounded with victories over highly regarded Spokane and Tri City.
The Royals (16-7-1), 1-0 winners over the Chiefs in Spokane on Friday, concluded their two-game swing through eastern Washington state with a 7-3 victory over the Americans in Tri City on Saturday night.
The Royals spotted the Americans a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Morgan Geekie and Nolan Yaremko before scoring seven unanswered goals, five in the second period, to bury the hosts before 3,875 fans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
“Our leadership group kept it positive and calm in the first-period break because we thought we played well — hard and with physicality — despite that [the Americans] converted two of their chances,” Victoria head coach Dan Price said.
“That led to a few goals for us in the second period, which was the decisive period of the game.”
Matthew Phillips began the rally with his 17th and 18th goals of the season, the second one-timed top corner. Jared Legien scored his 10th, Dante Hannoun his 12th, Igor Martynov his seventh, Ryan Peckford his 13th and Regan Nagy his 18th.
Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse, who shut out the Chiefs the night before, finished with 25 saves for Victoria, while Patrick Dea and Beck Warm of Tri City combined to stop 25 shots.
The Americans (13-6-2) are an honourable mention in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll. With four Tri City players selected in the first four rounds of the 2017 NHL draft — including first-rounders Michael Rasmussen ninth overall to the Detroit Red Wings and mobile-blueliner Juuso Valimaki 16th overall to the Calgary Flames — it isn’t hard to see why. The Americans also feature blueline standout Dylan Coghlan of Nanaimo, who signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Throw in the reliable 20-year-old points producer Jordan Topping from Salt Spring Island.
The Royals fell out of the CHL top-10 for the first time in eight weeks, but after sweeping in eastern Washington, they should be back in when this week’s poll comes out. The Royals are 2-0-1 in their four-game season set against the Americans.
Victoria was missing injured veteran blueliner Ralph Jarratt for a third consecutive game.
The Royals, who drove seven hours through the night from Kennewick to Tsawwassen, meet the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7-12-1) on Tuesday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
