Pundits can talk about the valiant rally that fell short, or the four goal posts the Victoria Royals hit, but it was still a playoff loss with no more losses left to give.
It may be the understatement of the Western Hockey League season to say the Royals are facing a daunting task. They must rally from a 3-0 playoff deficit, something that has only been done thrice before in the 51-year history of the WHL.
The Tri-City Americans defeated the Royals 6-5 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal before 2,909 fans Tuesday night in Kennewick, Washington, and have now outscored Victoria 17-6.
Tri-City led 5-0 just before midway through the third period before a frantic Royals rally fell short.
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“We never quit. We just needed five more minutes,” said Royals coach Dan Price.
“We’re going to keep going and hopefully it turns around.”
He pointed to the four posts Victoria pinged: “Hockey is a crazy game . . . really random at times in how the puck bounces.”
The albatross-like forward Michael Rasmussen of the Americans, selected ninth overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the 2017 NHL draft, was named WHL player of the week and now has five goals and 11 points against the Royals in the series after picking up a goal and three assists Tuesday.
Tri-City is 7-0 in the playoffs and there’s just too much talent on this Americans roster, combined with Victoria missing three of its best players in Tyler Soy, Tanner Kaspick and Scott Walford, to think there’s much of a glimmer for a comeback.
Mobile defenceman Dylan Coghlan from Nanaimo, under an NHL entry-level contract with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, had a goal and assist for Tri-City in Game 3. Third-round Carolina Hurricanes draft-pick Morgan Geekie, incandescent in the playoffs, had three goals and an assist and now has 14 goals and 21 points in seven playoff games. Defenceman Jake Bean, a first-round draft pick of the Hurricanes and gold medallist with Canada at the 2018 world juniors, had five assists for Tri-City.
Tri-City led by five before a Royals’ push accounted for four unanswered goals. Igor Martynov and rookie Tarun Fizer, one of the few future bright lights on a Royals team built for this year and stacked with 10 19-year-old players, scored the first two goals for Victoria. Third-round Red Wings draft-pick Lane Zablocki and Dante Hannoun brought Victoria to within one before Rasmussen decided it with an empty-net goal. Andrei Grishakov got Victoria back to within one at the final buzzer.
Patrick Dea of the Amerks, named WHL and CHL goaltender of the week, made 27 saves, while Griffen Outhouse made 26 for Victoria.
Game 4 is 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in Kennewick, Washington.
