The Tri-City Americans have not been able to score on Calgary Hitmen goalie Martin Jones, and that was again the difference Tuesday night in game three of the WHL Finals. Jones made 29 saves on the 30 shots he faced to lead the Hitmen to a 4-1 win and a decisive 3-0 lead in the best of seven series.
Just like in games one and two, a brief and decisive flurry provided the knockout blow for the Hitmen. After Calgary's Kris Foucault scored the opening goal in a four on four situation at the 12:16 mark of the first, the Hitmen scored two goals in just :58 to turn a tight 1-0 game into a 3-0 game. Hitmen captain Michael Stone scored a power play goal with just 1:21 left, as his shot went through Ams goalie Alexander Pechurskiy. Cody Sylvester then scored with just :23 left in the period, beating Pechurskiy off of a feed from Ian Schultz.
The Americans were not able to solve the riddle of Jones, failing to click on their first six power play opportunities, including a 5-on-3 advantage. The Americans were 0-19 on the power play before Kruise Reddick scored the team's only goal of the game with just 2:35 left in regulation. Schultz scored a shorthanded empty netter for Calgary for the final margin. Calgary was one for two on the power play for the game.
Pechurskiy, who was making his first start of the series after replacing an ineffective Drew Owsley in each of the first two games, finished with 31 saves.
The Americans will need to win game four in the Toyota Center Wednesday night to stay alive. The game can be seen live on KAPP/KVEW's sister station, MY Network TV, beginning at 7:00. My Network is available on Charter channels 78 or 280 or via 35.2 or 42.2 o
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Courtesy WHL
