The Victoria Royals were no match at home for the Tri-City Americans in the first game of the second round of the WHL playoffs Friday night.
After a hard fought opening round victory over the Vancouver Giants in seven games, the Royals came out strong early on before letting the game slip away en route to a 7-0 blowout.
The game remained tight through the first period with Victoria only trailing 1-0, but the flood gates opened in the second with the Americans scoring three more times. They potted another goal just 32 seconds into the third period – their only power play marker of the contest – and cruised to the win.
This was the first time the Royals had been shut out all year, including the regular season. The last time Victoria had been held without a goal was in the first round of last year’s playoffs against Everett.
Tri-City is now 5-0 in the playoffs this year after sweeping the Kelowna Rockets in their first round matchup. The Americans boast two players from Vancouver Island on their roster, blueliner Dylan Coghlan of Nanaimo and forward Jordan Topping from Salt Spring Island.
The Royals will try to even up the series tonight in game 2. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, and single game tickets are still available online.
ragnar.haagen@bpdigital.ca
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