Tri-City Americans rally past Spokane Chiefs

KENNEWICK – Brendan Shinnimin scored two goals as the Tri-City Americans overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit and beat the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 in Western Hockey League play on Saturday night.

The win was the Americans’ second in a row against Spokane and sixth in their nine games against the Chiefs this season.

Spokane – which lost its fourth straight game – opened the scoring just more than 5 minutes into the first period. Liam Stewart scored his 10th goal of the season on a Chiefs’ power play.

Just 19 seconds later, Marek Kalus put Spokane ahead 2-0 with his 19th goal.

Shinnimin closed the deficit to 2-1 with a goal at 14:01 of the first period. He scored again with 5:05 left in the second to tie the game at 2.

Less than a minute later, Tri-City’s Derek Ryckman scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Shinnimin scored two goals against Spokane for the second straight game. He scored twice in the Americans’ 5-3 win last Saturday.

Spokane is in fifth place in the Western Conference with a 31-20-4-3 record. Tri-City improved to 40-15-1-2.

The Chiefs will look to rebound tonight at Seattle. The Chiefs are 4-1 against the Thunderbirds this season.