WHITEFISH — The Great Falls Americans spoiled Paul Kinder’s return with a 7-0 win over the Glacier Nationals in an American West Hockey League game Thursday at Stumptown Ice Den.

Kinder, Glacier’s captain, played his first game since being hospitalized with bilateral pneumonia and sepsis in October.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get many shifts, but what I got was, I thought, pretty good,” Kinder said.

“I’m still a little slow, especially on the backwards skating, but I’m getting there slowly. It feels good to be back out there.”

Kinder played just two shifts in the first period but saw more ice time as the game progressed. He finished with three shots on goal and played the point on a few power plays.

Brady Christiaens and Austin Nottke each scored twice for Great Falls (20-6), which led 4-0 after the first period. The Americans outshot the Nationals 57-21 and applied constant offensive zone pressure that kept Glacier (12-14) pinned in its own end.

“They were better than us,” Nationals coach Joakim Falt said.

“We didn’t play good at all tonight. They outhustled us, outpassed us and outscored us. We played really bad tonight. All the way from the goaltending to the last player I thought it was a terrible game.”

Defenseman Tanner Dodd said Glacier’s poor breakout execution was the result of spotty passing.

“We gave a good effort out there, but passing is what we need to work on at this point,” Dodd said.

“That’s a bug we’ve got to get worked out.”

Christiaens opened the scoring with a backhand shot that beat Glacier goaltender Pierre Gustafsson with 5 minutes and 52 seconds remaining in the first period.

Erik Gatson scored a fluky goal 21 seconds later on a long clearance Gustafsson thought was going wide for an icing, but ended up sneaking inside the near post.

The Americans took a 3-0 lead when Johnathan Carpenter jammed the puck over the goal line after a scramble in front of the net. Falt replaced Gustafsson with Ethan Wiese, but the new goaltender didn’t fare much better as the Americans scored again with 2:20 left in the period.

Nottke wristed a shot past Wiese on the power play to put Great Falls ahead 5-0 with 8:38 remaining in the second period and the Americans nearly scored again late in the second period when a deflected shot hit the far post and skidded across the crease.

The Nationals’ best scoring chances came in the third period. Forward John Tesarek fired from the low slot mid-way through the period but Americans goaltender Evan Hauser covered the rebound to prevent a scramble. Three minutes later, Tesarek and Chris Cutshall streaked into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 but Hauser made a glove save on Tesarek’s wrist shot to the short side.

Christiaens and Donovan Mattfeldt tallied third-period goals for the Americans.

Great Falls ranks second in the AWHL with 40 points while Glacier is fourth with 24. The Nationals play at first-place Helena today.

Great Falls 4 1 2 — 7

Glacier 0 0 0 — 0

First period

GF - Brady Christiaens (Cody Page, Aaron McInnis), 14:08

GF - Erik Gatson (Zachary Mese, Donovan Mattfeldt), 14:29

GF - Johnathan Carpenter (Dylan Garton, Doug Keller), 14:50

GF - Austin Nottke (Austin Krantz, Mattfeldt), 17:47

Second period

GF - Nottke, power play (Page, McInnis), 11:22

Third period

GF - Christiaens (Max Kaetcher, Mattfeldt), 0:14

GF - Mattfeldt (Christiaens, McInnis), 19:05

———

Shots on goal - Great Falls 57, Glacier 21. Saves - Great Falls 21 (Evan Hauser), Glacier 50 (Pierre Gustafsson 30, Ethan Wiese 20). Power plays - Great Falls 1-3, Glacier 0-5. Penalty minutes - Great Falls 14, Glacier 10. Attendance - 367.