By Kevin Scott
BILLINGS, Mont., February 7, 2014 — The fourth place Billings Bulls (18-18-2) pulled out a 4-3 double overtime victory over the second place Great Falls Americans (29-8-3) on Friday night in the Magic City. Cody Phillips provided the winning score for the Bulls on the only successful power play opportunity of the night 1:18 into the second overtime.
Cody Page provided the first goal of the game from the Great Falls connection of Brady Christiaens and Connor Barta with 17:43 left in the first period.
It took Billings thirty minutes of actual game time before TJ Theodosopoulos tied the AWHL matchup at 1-1 on the unassisted scoring play. Tanner Doty broke the tie for Great Falls 39 seconds later on a pass by Reed Link and Austin Krantz. After Billings received a goal from Sam Orth, Aaron McInnis added his first (unassisted) goal in his return to the Americans lineup (after being traded on January 29th to the NAHL’s Kenai River (Alaska) Brown Bears) to put the Great Falls franchise ahead 3-2 with under two minutes left before the second intermission.
Steven Thompson’s goal midway through the third period proved to be the only points by either team and sent the game into overtime.
With neither team capitalizing on scoring opportunities in the first overtime, a second overtime was needed and the Bulls prevailed as Steven Thompson added the game-winner with the help from TJ Theodosopoulos and Nikolas Nasby.
Phillips and Theodosopoulos led the way for Billings with one goal and an assist apiece while Cody Page, Aaron McInnis and Tanner Doty provided the three points for the second place Americans.
Both teams combined for 1-15 on shot attempts on goal on the night. Great Falls combined for 33 of their 43 team shots on goal in the second and third periods.
The Americans racked up 26 minutes of penalties while the host team finished with 14 minutes. Evan Hauser made 32 saves for Great Falls on 36 shots that he faced from the Bulls offense. The Bulls goaltender Daniel Oordt had 40 saving attempts.
NEXT CONTEST: The Americans third road game of February is on Saturday night (Feb. 8th) as they invade Whitefish, MT as they face-off against the Glacier Nationals at 7:30 p.m.
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | 1st OT | 2nd OT | Final | |
| Great Falls | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Billings | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
First Period – 1, Great Falls, Cody Page (Brady Christiaens, Connor Barta), 2:17.
Second Period – 2, Billings, TJ Theodosopoulos (unassisted), 9:19. 3, Great Falls, Tanner Doty (Reed Link, Austin Krantz), 9:58. 4, Billings, Sam Orth (Cody Phillips, Ralfs Karelis), 16:48. 5, Great Falls, Aaron McInnis (unassisted), 18:25.
Third Period – 6, Billings, Steven Thompson (Orri Haman), 9:16.
Overtime – NO SCORING
Second Overtime – 7, Billings, Cody Phillips (power play) (TJ Theodosopoulos, Nikolas Nasby), 1:18.
Shots on Goal – Great Falls 43, Billings 36.
Power-play Opportunities – Great Falls 0-for-7, Billings 1-for-8.
Attendance – 370
Box Score: Great Falls @ Billings
| Final – 2OT | Centennial Ice Garden Fri, Feb 07, 2014 7:30 PM MST |
 Great Falls 3 |
 Billings 4 |
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