Feser Plays 300th Straight Game, Leads Americans To Victory Against Prince George

Kennewick, WA- Justin Feser wanted to make sure his 300th game in a row wasn’t a loss.

Feser chipped in three assists, helping the Tri-City Americans (29-19-1-2, 61 pts) close out a four-game home stand with a 5-2 win over the Prince George Cougars (15-29-2-4, 36 pts) in front of 3,510 at the Toyota Center.

The Americans finished their home stand at 2-2.

Tri-City struck first on a great play from Malte Strömwall, who brought the puck to the end line and dropped it off, faking out Prince George and allowing Jesse Mychan to slap the puck into a wide open net for a 1-0 lead. Strömwall would make it 2-0 two minutes later as Feser fed it across the middle to Malte, firing a one-timer into the goal. The Americans dominated the period, earning the advantage in the shot department 14-10, carrying a two goal lead into the second.

The Americans continued what they started in the first, as they increased the lead to 3-0 three minutes into the second. Feser brought the puck into the zone, passed it to Mychan who dropped it off to Plutnar, firing a laser into the top left corner of the net. Prince George had plenty of opportunities throughout the period, including outshooting the Americans 23-8 in the period and three power play chances. The Cougars finally got on the board late in the period on the power play as Chase Witala scored to make it 3-1 after two periods.

Parker Bowles got into the scoring early in the third period as he fired it into the goal from the slot on a feed from Connor Rankin. Witala scored his second goal of the game a minute later to cut the lead back to two. Prince George fought to score again and get back into the game, but the Americans put away the Cougars as Rankin scored an insurance goal late in the period to seal the win for Tri-City.

The 23 shots the Americans allowed in the second period is a season-high for shots allowed in a period. Prince George had 58 penalty minutes, the most against the Americans this season.

Luke Lee-Knight made 42 saves in the win while Mac Engel and Brett Zarowny combined to make 27 saves in the loss.

Tri-City will hit the road for two games this weekend, starting with a visit to the Everett Silvertips (21-28-1-2, 45 pts) on Feb. 1. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. The Americans have had success against the Silvertips this season, earning a win in five of the seven meetings. Tri-City is 3-0 in Comcast Arena this season. NewsTalk 870 will broadcast the game beginning at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show. WHL Live will stream the game online starting at 7:00 p.m.

Jack in the Box Three Stars:
1. Justin Feser, Tri-City
2. Jesse Mychan, Tri-City
3. Luke Lee-Knight, Tri-City