SPOKANE, Wash. — The second month of 2023 has not exactly been kind to the Chiefs, as the club hit the midway point of the month having dropped all 5 games they had played in February. In fact, Spokane had not tasted victory since January 21st, having lost a season high 9 straight in the process. The 9 game skein matched a 9 game drought back in late October and early November. The latest loss had come in a down to the wire 2-1 shootout loss at Everett on Sunday, capping a pair of 2-1 losses to the Silvertips in the home and home series over the weekend. Spokane was now in a major hole as far as their playoff hopes were concerned, trailing 8th place Kelowna in the West by 13 points with just 18 games left in the season. With a grueling 4 games in 6 nights stretch staring back at the Chiefs in the next to last week of February, this week was going to be a make or break for Spokane.
The schedule dialed up the Chiefs toughest foe of the week in the very first game as the second place Portland Winterhawks came to Spokane in the Chiefs only home game of the week. Home ice and for that matter, the Winterhawks, had not treated Spokane very well this season. The Chiefs were a league worst 5-20-0-1 at the Spokane Arena and had gone 0-2-1-1 vs. Portland this year. The club was coming off one of its' two toughest losses of the season (along with the New Year's Eve defeat at Tri City) when Spokane failed to hold a 3-1 lead with less than 6 minutes left in the third and fell 4-3 in overtime on January 29th. Wednesday's tilt at the Arena was the first time Spokane had hosted Portland since the first game of the series back on October 9th when the Hawks defeated the Chiefs 5-2.
In Spokane's last 5 games, the Chiefs had given up 3, 1, 3, 2 and 2 goals, yet had a 0-3-1-1 record to show for it. Goalies Cooper Michaluk and Dawson Cowan had been outstanding between the pipes, but the Chiefs offense had scored 1, 0, 1, 1 and 1 goals in those five games. From and offensive perspective, it wasn't exactly a recipe for success in the win-loss column. The last meeting with Portland when the Chiefs gave up 4 goals was the fewest they had allowed to the Hawks as Spokane had been outscored 23-13 in the four previous games in the series. Wednesday night the Chiefs would go with Cowan in goal. Spokane would strike quickly in the first as Mac Gross scored his 7th of the year almost 8 minutes in to make it 1-0. Portland would equalize with just over 5 minutes left in the period to send the game to the second tied at 1-1.
The start of the second period would be the deciding moment of the game. Berkly Catton scored his 15th of the season on an odd man rush just 35 seconds into the frame to give Spokane a 2-1 lead. Grady Lane and Ty Cheveldayoff followed with goals just 1:01 apart to make it 4-1 Chiefs. Cade Hayes then capped a 4 goal outburst in the first 7:09 of the period to give Spokane a commanding 5-1 advantage as the teams headed to the third. Portland would score a power play goal just over 6 minutes into the final stanza to cut the margin to 5-2, but Hayes would nab his second goal of the night with an empty netter in the final minute as the Chiefs notched their first win over Portland this season with a 6-2 victory. For the first in the teams five meetings, Spokane outshot Portland, and finished even in the special teams battle.
The win snapped Spokane's season high 9 game losing streak and kept the Chiefs within 13 points of Kelowna for the final playoff spot in the West. The victory jump started the week for the Chiefs as the club headed out on a 3 game road swing over the next 4 days. The trip would start in Everett, the same club Spokane had played in a home and home the weekend before. The Chiefs had dropped a pair of 2-1 defeats, including one by a shootout in Everett the previous Saturday. Spokane had dropped 6 straight to the Silvertips entering Friday's tilt and the Chiefs would go with Cooper Michaluk in goal, who had put up 35 saves in the last loss to Everett.
Michaluk was sharp in net in the first period as he turned aside all 12 Silvertips shots to keep the game scoreless after one. Everett would break through with a goal midway through the second period to take a 1-0 lead after two. Michaluk kept Spokane in the game with 26 saves through 40 minutes as Everett outshot Spokane 27-11 through two periods. The Silvertips came out in the third and scored two goals in the first 6:49 to take what appeared to be a commanding 3-0 lead into the middle of the third. Spokane would finally get on the board as Cade Hayes scored on his own rebound at 10:36 to bring the Chiefs within 3-1. The Hayes goal would be followed 16 seconds later with Berkly Catton's 16th of the year as Spokane cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the period.
Spokane would complete the comeback as Hayes scored his second of the night on a deflection of a Raegan Wiles pass at 15:22 to bring the Chiefs even at 3-3. For the second straight game in Everett, the two clubs headed to overtime. The Silvertips got a power play just over a minute into the extra period, but the Chiefs penalty kill finished off a perfect 3 for 3 night as they denied Everett the game winner despite being outshot 7-1 in the five minute period. The two clubs headed to a shootout for the second straight game as Spokane looked for their first win in 7 tries this season. Everett scored in the first round as they took a 1-0 lead into the second. Catton would get the Chiefs back in the game as he scored to even the shootout at 1-1 heading to the third round.
Both teams would score in the third and fourth rounds as Tomasso DeLuca and Carter Streek kept the Chiefs alive with goals in those rounds. Michaluk would stop the Tips Jesse Heslop in round 5 and the Chiefs Chase Bertholet would score Spokane's 4th straight goal in the shootout in round 5 to give Spokane their first shootout win since the 2019-20 season with a 4-3 victory. It was the Chiefs first win in Everett since April of 2021 in the abbreviated season, snapping a streak of 11 straight losses on the Tips home ice. Michaluk was excellent again, with 47 saves in goal as Spokane picked up their first winning streak since the opening weekend of the season when the Chiefs won back to back games in Victoria on September 23rd and 24th.
The Chiefs gained 2 points on both 8th place Kelowna and 9th place Victoria with the victory and Spokane hoped to get their first 3 game win streak of the season as they headed to Tri City in game two of the road trip on Saturday. Spokane had knocked off both Portland and Everett for the first time this season, and were hoping for their first win at Tri City in 4 tries. The Americans were coming off an overtime loss to division leading Seattle the night before and were looking for their 3rd straight win over the Chiefs in the season series. Spokane went back to Dawson Cowan in goal after his win over Portland on Wednesday.
Coming off the emotional come from behind win the night before, the hope was the Chiefs would carry that over into Saturday's contest. Instead, the club lacked zip and mental turnovers cost them early. A turnover in the defensive zone led to an easy Tri City goal just over 4 minutes into the game as the Americans went up 1-0. Later in the period, a loose puck sat at the top of the circles and the Ams jumped on it and scored on a shot between the circles to give Tri a 2-0 lead after one. Spokane was out shot 11-8 in the period and while they were just down 2, the game had already been decided.
Tri-City goalie Tomas Suchanek would take over from there. Spokane would put up 17 shots and get 3 power plays in the second, but would be unable to find the net on the Americans goalie. Cowan meantime kept the Chiefs in the game with 11 saves in the middle frame as Spokane headed to the third still down by just two. The Chiefs put up 14 more shots in the final period and had the only power play of the stanza, but once again Suchanek was a wall as turned aside every Spokane opportunity offensively, as the Chiefs second win streak of the season came to an end with a 3-0 shutout loss. It was the third time Spokane had been blanked this season and the first since Seattle shut out the Chiefs December 6th. The win was Tri City's 5th in 7 games with the Chiefs this season.
The loss was also costly in the standings, as Kelowna beat Portland Saturday to go up 13 points on the Chiefs for the final playoff spot with only 15 games left in the season. Let's just say the door is not just closing but is very nearly shut on the team's playoff hopes this year. Spokane didn't have any time to mope about their predicament though, as the team was right back on the bus the next day to head to Vancouver to play a rare Monday afternoon contest against the Giants. It's Family Day in Canada and every Canadian team in the league is playing at 2 pm local time to promote the game with kids getting off of school to watch with Mom and Dad. It's a great idea and I wish we'd do it in the States.
It was the final meeting with the Giants this season and Spokane was hoping to duplicate their effort the last time they were in the Giants barn as Spokane won a 4-2 decision on January 13th. A victory Monday would ensure a split season series with Vancouver with each team winning both games on the road. It was the Chiefs next to last trip to Canada this season, so I was hoping that would fire up the boys as they faced their 4th game in 6 days. Michaluk was back in goal looking for his second straight win of the week after his victory against Everett on Friday.
The two teams were even through the first half of the first period, but like Saturday's game in Tri Cities, the Chiefs would make a mistake that would end up in their net in the opening frame. A turnover in the left circle gave the Giants a prime scoring opportunity, and they seized upon it as a goal just over 13 minutes into the game gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead after one. Spokane answered back 5.5 minutes into the second when Chase Bertholet scored his team leading 23rd of the season to bring the Chiefs into a 1-1 tie. Vancouver's Samuel Honzek would score on the Giants only power play of the second with just under 2.5 minutes left to put Vancouver back up 2-1. Spokane's Ty Cheveldayoff then evened the game once again with a shot from the point with 1:01 left but just when it looked like the Chiefs would go to the third even, Honzek struck for his second of the period with just 18 seconds remaining to give the Giants a 3-2 advantage heading to the third.
Vancouver would get the only two power play chances in the third, yet Spokane would outshoot the Giants 11-4 in the period. The Giants had chances to extend the lead, but it was the Chiefs that capitalized on a Vancouver man advantage when Mac Gross scored shorthanded midway through the period to tie the game once again, this time at 3-3. Spokane had a couple of golden chances to score later in the period, but went wide on one shot and were denied on a great save from Giants goalie Jesper Vikman on the other. For the second time in three games, the Chiefs headed to overtime with the game tied at 3-3.
Spokane had several possessions in the OT, but could not get a shot off on net. Vancouver got just 2 shots but the last one would prove to be the dagger. A turnover in neutral ice led to a breakaway for the Giants leading goal scorer Ty Thorpe and he scored with 43 seconds left in overtime to give the Giants a 4-3 victory. Vancouver took the season series 3-1 but more importantly for Spokane, the club lost another point in the standings to Kelowna for the final playoff spot in the West as the Rockets beat Tri City Monday. The Chiefs are now 14 points out of the playoffs with just 14 games left in the regular season. I hate to say it, but the Chiefs playoff hopes are done.
Just breaking it down in Mr. Spock logic, if the Rockets, who have a game in hand on the Chiefs to boot, lose 8 of their remaining 15 games in regulation, they still get 14 points. Spokane would have to win all 14 remaining games just to tie. That is not going to happen. Spokane has 29 points while the Rockets have 43. The Chiefs schedule includes Tri City 5 times, Portland twice, Everett 3 times, Kelowna twice and Prince George 2 times. Spokane has lost 5 of 7 to Tri City thus far, 6 of 7 to Portland, 6 of 7 to Everett, both previous meetings at home to Prince George, and split with Kelowna thus far. Based on that track record, Spokane isn't going to break the .500 mark over the rest of the season. It's looking more like this 2022-23 edition will finish with the worst record in franchise history. Spokane finished with 47 points in 1998-99 over 72 games. With 14 games left and with 29 points, if the Chiefs won their last 14, they would finish with 57 points. That isn't happening of course, but to match the 47, Spokane has to win at least 7 and take two more to overtime. That is going to be a stretch, although not impossible, but still a long shot.
Despite ending the week on a down note, overall the club got a split of 4 games, which is the best stretch of the season. The club is building for next year, and continued improvement will definitely be needed over the final month of the season to lead to optimism for the next campaign. After the grueling 4 games in 6 nights stretch this past week, the Chiefs get to head home for just two games over the weekend as they host Portland and Tri City on Friday and Saturday. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA on Friday while Saturday's game is on 94.1 FM the Bear due to Gonzaga basketball. The pre-game shows start at 6:30 pm with the puck drops at 7:05 pm and we hope to see you at the rink!
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