A real lamp lighter

Hurricanes rally late, but fall 8-7 to Americans in overtime

The 1980s style of NHL hockey was played well over a decade before any member of the Lethbridge Hurricanes or Tri-City Americans were born. On Saturday night, both teams harkened back to that era in a goal-swap marathon before the Americans secured an 8-7 overtime victory in Western Hockey League action in Kennewick, Washington.

With the Americans seemingly in the driver’s seat, holding a 7-4 lead with 6:04 to go, the Canes came gunning back late with three goals in the final 5:38, including Jake Elmer’s hat trick goal with 2:11 remaining to force overtime.

But with blood pressures sailing like the Teddy Bears that were thrown back in the second period on the Americans’ first goal, the hosts snagged the second point when Isaac Johnson scored 1:10 into overtime to cap off the crazy finish.

With the overtime loss, the Hurricanes are Canes are 15-9-4-2 and one point back of the Edmonton Oil Kings for second place in the Central Division.

The loss also wraps up a 1-1-1 road trip for Lethbridge following a 6-2 loss to the Spokane Chiefs Friday night and a 3-2 win over the Kootenay Ice Wednesday in Cranbrook.

Despite the run-and-gun finish, it was the Canes that held a 2-0 lead after the first on goals by Elmer and Dylan Cozens.

But after scoring their Teddy Bear Toss goal, the goals continued to fly in the second stanza for the Americans.

Kyle Olson got TriCity on the board on the power play 1:39 into the second to cut Lethbridge’s lead to 2-1.

After the teddy bear cleanup, the Americans quickly took a 3-2 lead by the 7:58 mark of the second on a pair of goals from Nolan Yaremko.

The goal swapping continued as Canes captain Jordy Bellerive briefly made it 3-3 with his 12th of the season 9:03 into the second.

However, Aaron Hyman and Riley Sawchuk scored 18 seconds part late in the second for a 5-3 lead heading into the second intermission.

Lethbridge went to the power play early in the third and pulled to within one on Jake Leschyshyn’s 19th of the season 6:20 into the third, but the Americans regained their twogoal lead a little over four minutes later on a goal from Sasha Mutala.

The assault on the scoresheet was far from over.

Tri-City went up 7-4 on a goal from Parker Aucoin before the Canes set the table for an interesting finish on goals from Elmer and Taylor Ross 37 seconds apart.

Elmer completed his hat trick bid and his 15th goal of the season with a little over two minutes remaining to ensure one point.

But it didn’t take long for the Americans to pot the winner as Johnson sent a shot gloveside past Hurricanes goaltender Reece Klassen for the game-winner.

Klassen stopped 33 of 41 shots and Americans goaltender Beck Warm turned aside 37 of 44 shots.

Elmer added two assists for a five-point night. Ross had three helpers for four points.

Cozens had two assists for three points and Leschyshyn had an assist for two points.

The Hurricanes power play was 1-for-2, while the Americans clicked on three of six chances.

The Hurricanes are back home Wednesday when they take on Kelowna Rockets at 7 p.m. at the Enmax Centre and are back home Saturday night to host the Kamloops Blazers.

The Canes travel to Calgary Sunday to clash with the Hitmen before breaking for Christmas.