Game Day @ Portland

The Tri-City Americans have kept things as simple as 1-2-3 in amassing their 11-game home winning streak:

1) Sling the puck at the net.
2) Send bodies crashing the net.
3) Cue the music and flip the goal light switch.

The Americans followed that formula five times Saturday night in a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Giants, giving them 65 goals (a 5.9 per game average) during their streak.

"We're playing as simple as you possibly can right now, throwing pucks at the net, driving the net, and it's paying off for us," said Ams associate coach Scott Beattie. "When you get on a roll, things snowball, and we're fortunate to be on the winning side right now."   (Examiner)

Obviously, the newest players are making an impact, just as they were brought in to do.  The Shinnimin-Hughesman-Ashton line might be the most dangerous in the WHL right now.  Ok, maybe not, it's only been two games, but still.  Super impressed.  Matt MacKenzie, in 3 games has 1 goal, 2 assists and is a +6.  As Ferran points out in the article linked above, Sam Grist is now the only player on the team who has a minus rating (Ashton and MacKenzie do too, but that is carry-over from their former teams, both are + with the Americans).

Drew Owsley played 45+ minutes of shutout hockey on Saturday night, then Chris Driedger came in and played well.  I'm glad to see him getting some quality time.  I did notice that even when it was 5-0 Americans, the 4th line (really just Moline & Little Mess) didn't get as much playing time as they have against other teams when the score was that lopsided.  Makes sense, the Giants certainly aren't a team that are going to just roll over and take a loss (not that other teams do) and they were pushing hard to come back in the 3rd, putting some pressure on the Ams and on Driedger.

I thought (and I wasn't alone) the holes left by Big Mess and Prokes were obvious.  I don't want either of them to rush back by any means, but they are definitely missed.

Tonight at Portland will be the first road game with the new-look team and it should be a good one.  The Ams are 3 points back in the standings with games in hand.  But those games in hand only do you good if you win them, and tonight's a chance to gain some ground.

As usual, we'll be liveblogging the action tonight, starting at 6:45.  Click on the "Read More" to join in the fun.