Carson Focht's power-play goal with 3:35 left on the clock lifted the Tri-City Americans to a 5-3 win over the Prince George Cougars Wednesday at the Red Lion WHL preseason tournament in Kennewick, Wash.
Focht's goal, his second of the game, came 12 seconds after Cougars forward Justin Almeda was caught shooting the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty. Jordan Topping added an empty-netter for the Americans. Keltie Jeri-Leon and Dakota Krebs were the other Tri-City marksmen.
Kody McDonald had a two-goal effort for the Cougars, while Jansen Harkins also scored.
Nick McBride started the game in net for Prince George, allowing one goal on 19 shots in 31:51 of playing time before giving way to rookie Taylor Gauthier, who made 13 saves on 16 shots. Beck Warm blocked 11 of 12 shots for Tri-City, replaced at the midway point by Nicholas Sanders, who turned aside 14 shots.
The Americans went 2-for-5 on the power play while the Cougars were 2-for-7.
The Cougars (1-2) continue the preseason tonight (7:05 p.m. PT) in Kennewick against the Kootenay Ice, then play the Portland Winterhawks Friday at 11 a.m.
Earlier Wednesday, the Cougars announced the hiring of Shawn Chambers as interim assistant coach. The former NHL defenceman, who won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 1995 and played with Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk on the Cup-winning Dallas Stars team in 1999, will replace assistant coach Steve O'Rourke for the rest of September while he attends to an undisclosed health matter.
