Chiefs Fall, Ams Take 2-1 Series Lead - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

The Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans squared off for game three of their best-of-seven series on Wednesday night with the Americans winning the contest by a score of 2-1. Strong goaltending from both goaltenders continues to be the story of the series as Americans tender Ty Rimmer stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced and Eric Williams of the Chiefs turned away 27 of the 29 shots on goal his direction.

The American's scored first for the third game in a row when Nathan MacMaster cleaned up a rebound at 9:20 of the first period.

Brendan Shinnimin added to the lead later in the period, finding a loose puck in front of the net and shooting over Eric Williams at 14:56 of the first.

The second period saw six players find their way to the penalty box with neither team scoring despite 17 shots on goal between the two teams. Both Rimmer and Williams sport a .939 save percentage and have combined to turn away 170 of the 181 shots on goal in the series.

The Chiefs looked as if they might be able to mount a comeback when Steven Kuhn slammed home the puck at 12:16 of the third with Reid Gow and Dominik Uher picking up assists.

The Chiefs almost mustered some last second heroics when Darren Kramer snapped a shot with just 3 seconds to play that unfortunately just missed the far post, leaving the score 2-1 in favor of the Americans.

Shots on goal favored the Americans by a margin of 29-25, with Spokane going 0-3 on the power play and 1-1 on the penalty kill.

Game four of the series is Friday night at the Spokane Arena with the puck dropping at 7:05 p.m.