SPOKANE, Wash. — After a 2-0 start to the season with a pair of victories at Victoria, the Chiefs had returned home last week only to drop a disappointing 4-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers. A slow start had doomed the Chiefs in their home opener, as they fell behind by 3 goals after two periods and were down 4-0 early in the third before rallying with an inspired third period. Spokane had welcomed back goalie Mason Beaupit and defenseman Graham Sward from NHL camps right before the Kamloops game, so the team now had a chance to get them acclimated back to their teammates with a full week of practice before hosting Edmonton and Portland in games two and three of an opening five game homestand.
First up were the defending league champion Edmonton Oil Kings, who had gone winless in their first 4 games, gaining only one point with an overtime loss. The Oil Kings were starting their 5 game road swing through the U.S. Division on this Friday and had not enjoyed a lot of success in Spokane over the years. Edmonton had won just once on 6 trips to the Spokane Arena in their history and that came back in 2016. Spokane had won 3 in a row overall including a decisive 6-2 victory in Edmonton on March 4, 2020 in the last meeting between the two. Edmonton was the first club from the Eastern Conference to visit Spokane since February of 2020 before the pandemic.
The Chiefs were hoping to get out to a better start against the Oil Kings than they did against Kamloops but Edmonton would take the early lead with a power play goal from Mason Finley, the younger brother of former Chief Jack Finley, in the final 2 minutes of the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead after one. Edmonton would hold that lead until late in the second when the Oil Kings scored off the rush with 3:30 left in the period to go up 2-0. Edmonton then scored on a rebound off a breakaway save from Beaupit with just 4 seconds remaining in the frame to take a commanding 3-0 lead after two. Spokane had only managed 12 shots through 40 minutes and had failed on all 4 of their power play chances. It was a familiar start as the Chiefs trailed by the same 3 goal deficit they had against Kamloops the weekend before.
Just like they had in that game, Spokane would come out in the third and dominate offensively. The Chiefs put up 18 shots in the third against the Blazers and in Friday's game would surpass that with an astounding 22 shots in the final period. Spokane would get on the board on a Jake Gudelj rebound just under 7 minutes into the period to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Chiefs would get 2 power play chances in the third and pulled their goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage in the final 2 minutes, but could not score on Oil Kings goalie Kolby Hay as Edmonton secured their first victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Spokane. It was the Chiefs second straight home loss and left the team tied with Tri City for 4th in the division, 4 points back of division leaders Everett, Seattle and Portland.
Spokane had little time to dwell on Friday's loss as they welcomed Portland to the Arena Sunday for the first meeting between the two this season. The Chiefs played the Winterhawks twice in the pre-season, splitting the two games with Portland winning in a shootout in first meeting, while Spokane put up 10 goals in a victory in game two. Portland was off to a 4-0 start, including an overtime win over Medicine Hat the night before in Portland. Spokane was hoping to take advantage of the short turnaround for the Winterhawks and get out to the elusive quick start on Sunday. After scoring just one even strength goal in their last two games, the Chiefs adjusted their line combinations for Sunday's contest and the team seem to respond with a better start against the Hawks. Spokane would out shoot Portland 10-7 in the first, but unfortunately that statistic didn't result in a positive result on the scoreboard. Portland would score on their first power play just 6 seconds into the man advantage just over 14 minutes into the game to go up 1-0. The Winterhawks then scored after an odd man rush with just 12 seconds remaining in the first to take a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
It was a disheartening way to end the period as once again the Chiefs were playing from behind heading into the second. In the middle frame, Portland scored on their first two power plays of the period in a total of 32 seconds to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the third. The Chiefs would get their first successful penalty kill at the end of the second and into the third, but the Winterhawks would notch their 4th power play goal in 5 attempts in just 8 seconds on the man advantage attempt early in the third to basically put the game away at 5-0. Spokane would respond at the 5:37 mark as Berkly Catton scored his second of the year with a power play tally to get the Chiefs on the board at 5-1. Kooper Gizowski then notched his team leading 6th assist of the season with a nifty feed to defenseman Ben Bonni net front off a 4 on 4 situation midway through the period to get the Chiefs to 5-2. For Bonni, who has got more playing time with the trade of defenseman Logan Cunningham, the goal was his first career WHL marker. Spokane would get no closer though, as the Chiefs dropped their third straight home game by that 5-2 margin.
When things don't go well, it's generally for a number of reasons. There is rarely one thing you can point to and that is certainly the case for the Chiefs right now. The penalty kill has been dreadful, ranking dead last in the league at under 50%. Scoring has become a struggle at home as the team has scored just 5 goals in three games, only one of those off of an even strength 5 on 5 situation. Spokane scored 12 goals in their first two wins on the road at Victoria, but the offense shown there has disappeared since returning home to the Arena. Little things have added up to big things for the Chiefs as the lack of attention to detail in the small areas has shown up on the scoreboard the last three contests, particularly in puck management between the blue lines.
Fortunately for the team, they have most of this next week to work on those details, as they are off until a demanding three games in three nights over the weekend. The Chiefs will finish up their season opening 5 game home stand with back to back games Friday and Saturday at the Arena when they host Medicine Hat and rival Tri City. The team will get on the bus to head to Everett for a Sunday afternoon meeting with the Silvertips. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows on Friday and Saturday at 6:30 pm and the puck drop at 7:05 pm. Sunday's game from Everett will be a 4:05 pm start with the pre-game at 3:30 pm. It's going to be a challenging weekend to say the least and if the Chiefs can come away with a couple of wins over the weekend, that will go as a success. Let's hope the club starts attending to the little details of their game and we hope to see you at the rink!
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