SPOKANE, Wash. — Fifty games into the season. Eighteen games to go. The Chiefs are officially in the home stretch of the 2023-24 campaign and are fighting to keep hold of their post season slot after missing the playoffs last year. Spokane is in the midst of their busiest part of the schedule all season as they are playing 7 games in 12 days, including a 4 games in 5 nights stretch this week. There's no doubt that how the Chiefs perform over this next few days will go a long ways towards determining in the club will indeed be playing playoff hockey at the end of March. Spokane began the week in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, 4 points ahead of Tri City. The Chiefs were also 4 points back of 7th place Kelowna and 6 back of 6th place Vancouver in the West.
The positive side for the Chiefs is they had 2 games in hand over Tri City and Vancouver and 3 in hand on Kelowna coming into the week. Spokane now had an opportunity to gain ground over the teams chasing them and that they are chasing if they could take care of business on the ice. The Chiefs had won 3 of their last 4 to move those 4 points ahead of Tri City and with 4 of their 18 games left in the season against Tri, those head to head matchups were going to be critical going forward. Two of those 4 would start the week for Spokane as the Chiefs took on the Americans in a home and home series Friday and Saturday.
The club traveled to Tri Cities on Friday to start their 4 games in 5 nights stretch. The last time Spokane had gone to Kennewick, the Chiefs were drilled 6-3 back on February 3rd. The team had rebounded though when the two met on the 9th in Spokane as the Chiefs skated to a 5-1 win. As the team leading the head to head race, Spokane was hoping to come out with a split of regulation games to at least maintain their 4 point lead. Having the two games in hand is big as well, as the Chiefs know by maintaining the lead, the Americans lose opportunities to gain ground on Spokane. The Chiefs knew the Americans would come out desperate in the first meeting Friday and Spokane had to try and match that intensity early.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they would be their own worst enemy in the first period at Tri. Spokane took a penalty just 56 seconds into the game and the Americans converted the power play 1:50 in to jump out to a quick 1-0 lead. Spokane would have to kill off 3 more Tri City power plays in the first half of the period but would successfully do so to keep it 1-0 past the midway point. The Americans would make it 2-0 off a face off win at the 14:29 mark and then would get a second goal from Jake Sloan in the last minute to take a 3-0 advantage heading into the second. The Americans dominated the first, outshooting the Chiefs 21-10 in the period while going 1-4 on the power play.
As bad as the first period went for Spokane, the second would be the exact opposite. Rasmus Ekstrom would score 1:55 into the frame with his 13th of the season to make it a 3-1 game. The goal extended Ekstrom's point scoring streak to 7 straight games and it got Spokane back in the contest. Chase Bertholet would tip in a Layton Feist shot on the power play midway through period and suddenly the Chiefs were within 3-2. It was Bertholet's 18th goal of the year and his 7th against Tri City this season. Spokane outshot Tri 11-8 in the period and were now within striking distance with momentum on their side.
The Chiefs would go on the power play in the first minute of the third with a chance to tie, but disaster struck in the opening seconds of the man advantage as a lost puck battle at the Tri City blue line led to an odd man rush and subsequently a short handed goal 1:10 into the third to put Tri City back up by two at 4-2. The Americans leading goal scorer Parker Bell scored 5.5 minutes into the period and suddenly the Americans were in control at 5-2. The two teams went on a 4 on 4 midway through the period and the Chiefs capitalized as Berkly Catton scored his team leading 39th of the season to bring Spokane within 5-3. It was as close as the Chiefs would get though, as Sloan capped his hat trick with an empty net power play tally in the waning seconds to wrap up a 6-3 win.
Tri City now led the season series 4-3 but more importantly, had now moved just 2 points back of the Chiefs for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. The good news was the Chiefs now had a chance to make up those two points if they could return home and knock off the Americans on home ice the following night. After losing at Tri City in early February, Spokane had returned home and won convincingly over the Americans at the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs were now looking to do the same thing on Saturday.
The Americans would jump out to an early lead again on Saturday as Jake Sloan scored his 4th goal in 2 nights with a power play tally 6:38 into the game to make it 1-0 Tri City. The Chiefs would answer back on this night though as Chase Bertholet scored his 18th of the season and 8th against Tri City at 11:18 to tie the contest at 1-1. Rasmus Ekstrom extended his points scoring streak to 8 straight with his 14th goal of the year 1:20 later to give Spokane a 2-1 lead. Chase Harrington then scored his 3rd of the season with his first goal since December 10th to put the Chiefs up 3-1 after the opening period. Sloan would score his second of the night 43 seconds into the second to cut Spokane's lead to 3-2 but Cam Parr put the Chiefs back up by 2 with his 3rd of the season at 11:05 to make it 4-2.
The Chiefs ran into penalty difficulty late in the period and the Americans took advantage as they would score two power play goals in the final 3 minutes of the period to tie the game at 4-4 heading into the third. Tri City started the third on the power play and had a couple of chances stopped by Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan and had a shot from Sloan ring off the crossbar. Spokane would escape the Ams pressure and would then take the lead 4 minutes into the third on Carter Streek's rebound to take the lead for good at 5-4. Connor Roulette then followed with his 35th goal of the season at 6:43 to cap off a 6-4 victory. The win evened the season series at 4-4 and pushed the Chiefs 4 points ahead of the Americans for the final playoff spot in the West. Spokane was now just 2 points back of Kelowna for the 7th spot after the Rockets lost twice in Victoria over the weekend.
Spokane was 6 points back of Vancouver for 6th as the club headed North to face the Giants on Monday afternoon for the final time this season. The Chiefs had lost the previous 3 meetings with Vancouver and were looking to salvage the final game of the 4 games season series. Monday's game was a rare matinee for the team as puck drop took place at 2 pm in a Family Day holiday contest. The Giants came out ready to go as they scored on the first shot of the game just 29 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead. The Chiefs would come right back though as Berkly Catton scored his team leading 40th goal of the season at 5:01 to even the contest at one. Chase Bertholet would then give Spokane their first lead of the game with the team's league leading 15th shorthanded goal of the season at 17:19 to make it 2-1 Chiefs. The lead would last all of 27 seconds though as Vancouver scored on the next shift to send the game to the first intermission tied 2-2.
The Chiefs came out in the second period and outshot the Giants 14-4 in the frame but neither team failed to score as the game went to the third still tied. Vancouver would re-take the lead on a rebound net front at 3:58 to make it 3-2. That lead would hold until just under 3 minutes were left as a collision between Spokane defenders inside the Chiefs blue line led to an odd man rush for Vancouver and a goal at 17:15 to give the Giants a 4-2 advantage. The Giants added an empty net goal at 18:08 to go up 5-2 but the Chiefs came right back on a Carter Streek tally 12 seconds later to cut the margin to 5-3. The comeback ended there though as Vancouver scored their second empty net goal with 30 seconds remaining to cap off their 4th straight win over Spokane this year with a 6-3 victory.
The Giants took an 8 point lead over the Chiefs for 6th in the West and with Kelowna's win over Tri City Monday, Spokane is now 4 points back of Kelowna for 7th but maintain their 4 point margin over Tri for the 8th and final playoff berth in the West. The Chiefs had a chance to build on that lead as they headed to Wenatchee for their 4th game in 5 nights and their 7th in 12 days as they faced the third place Wild. Wenatchee had won the first 3 meetings of the season series, but Spokane had won the last two, including a 2-1 win back on January 20th in Wenatchee. In that contest, all of the scoring took place in the first period.
It appeared history would repeat itself on Tuesday. Spokane jumped out to an early lead when Berkly Catton scored his team leading 41st of the season just 1:04 in to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. The Wild answered right back with a Ty Fraser goal at 2:36 to tie the game at one. Back came the Chiefs as Chase Bertholet rifled home his 21st of the year at 4:26 and Spokane would take a 2-1 advantage to the second. Thoughts of another 2-1 game would end though at 6:36 of the second when Shea Van Olm scored his 17th of the year to put Spokane ahead 3-1. Wenatchee would score at 13:02 to move back within 3-2 but the Chiefs Rasmus Ekstrom would score his 15th of the season with just 30 seconds left in the period to give Spokane a 4-2 lead moving into the third.
Ekstrom's goal was a big one as the Wild scored midway through the final period to get within 4-3. The Chiefs would then get what turned out to be the game winner at 17:39 when defenseman Will McIsaac scored on the rush to put Spokane up 5-3. Van Olm would seal the game with his second of the night as he tallied the teams league leading 16th shorthanded goal of the year at 19:07 to make it 6-3. Wenatchee would score a power play goal with 13 seconds left to cap the scoring but Spokane picked up their 3rd straight win over the Wild with a 6-4 victory. The win enabled the Chiefs to split the 4 games over the 5 nights stretch and increased Spokane's lead over Tri City for the 8th and final playoff spot to 6 points with 14 games left in the season. The team is now just 2 points back of Kelowna for the 7th spot and 6 behind Vancouver for 6th.
The club's busy February will continue this weekend when Spokane hosts their final two home games for the month. The final two teams from the league's East Division will visit on Friday and Saturday when Regina and Moose Jaw come calling to the Spokane Arena. The Pats will take on Chiefs Friday at 7:05 pm and the Warriors will follow Saturday at 6:05 pm. I'll have the call for Friday's game with the pre-game show at 6:30 pm on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA. Saturday's game will have the pre-game at 5:30 pm on 94.1 FM the Bear and 790 AM KJRB due to Gonzaga basketball. With just 14 games left in the season, every game counts. We hope to see you at the rink!
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