T-birds fall 3-2 to Tri-City in Game 3

Not enough shots on goal and some so-so special teams play added up to a 3-2 loss for the Seattle Thunderbirds to the Tri-City Americans at KeyArena on Tuesday night.

The Americans outshot the T-birds 45-24 and scored twice on the power play to take a 2-1 lead in a Western Conference semifinal series. Game 4 is scheduled tonight at KeyArena.

The T-birds, meanwhile, did not score on nine power-play chances playing for the second game without captain Thomas Hickey, who is still out with a concussion suffered in Game 1.

"We waited for great opportunities and they threw everything on net, and obviously one is way better than the other," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. "We missed a lot of nets and they blocked a lot of shots. We need to play better."

Jim O'Brien had a pair of highlight-reel goals for the T-birds, including one at 14:41 of the second period that tied the score at 2.

Taylor Procyshen scored the game-winner for Tri-City at 6:44 of the third period as the Americans went to the net hard and often against Seattle goaltender Riku Helenius.

Helenius was brilliant for most of the night, stopping 42 shots, but he couldn't reach Procyshen's backhanded score when he was left all alone in the crease.

"There were bright spots," Sumner said. "It was close to the end even though I thought they played better than we did.

O'Brien gave the T-birds a lead with a score at 3:36 on Seattle's first shot.

"Obviously, they have a good goalie, and we were trying to get more shots on net," O'Brien said. "Tonight we just didn't do it. Hopefully, tomorrow we can do a better job of it. The way to beat him is to get traffic to the net and shoot and shoot often from all angles."

Tri-City tied it on their first power-play goal of the period when Shaun Vey snapped in a rebound after a shot by Procyshen at 4:39 of the period.

The Americans took the lead at 13:09 of the opening period on another power-play goal, this one controversial because the referees didn't make the signal for the goal.

After conferring, Adam Hughesman was credited with the goal.

The T-birds have been held scoreless on their last 18 power-play opportunities against the Americans and are 1 for 24 in the series. The Americans, meanwhile, are 7 for 14 on the power play in the series and have scored only one even-strength goal in the three games.