SPOKANE, Wash. — With just 14 games left in the season, the Chiefs headed into the final month of the 2023-24 campaign with a realistic shot to make the playoffs after missing the previous season for just the 6th time in franchise history. Spokane's rebuilding efforts appeared to be paying off, as the team had exceeded last year's win total by 7 and points total by 11 with those 14 games still left this year.
Spokane went into the last weekend of February with a 6 point lead over Tri City for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Chiefs were just 2 points back of 7th place Kelowna and 6 behind 6th place Vancouver. Spokane had one game in hand on Tri City and Vancouver and two on Kelowna. While the Chiefs have completed the season series with both the Giants and Rockets, Spokane still has two games with Tri City coming over the final week of the regular season. Opportunity is there for the Chiefs to move up the standings if they can take care of business on the ice.
The Chiefs would play their final two home games of February over the final weekend of the month as they hosted the final two teams from the East Division to visit the Arena this season. The Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors came to town for the first time since the 2019-20 season as Spokane hoped to sweep the two Eastern clubs and finish .500 against the division this season.
First up were the Pats, who were in their first year with the departed Connor Bedard, who is now headed towards the Rookie of the Year in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks. It's a shame Chiefs fans never got the chance to watch him as the Covid pandemic robbed fans here locally from seeing the best talent to hit the league in years. I'm sure the Chiefs didn't mind though as the club was needing every point they could get to maintain their playoff spot.
Regina came out Friday night like they still had Bedard in the lineup as they scored two goals in the first half of the first period to take a 2-0 advantage. Spokane would get themselves back in the game when Hayden Paupanekis scored his 9th of the season to cut the margin to 2-1 after the first. The Chiefs would pull even early in the second when Ty Cheveldayoff scored a power play goal to make it a 2-2 game after the second. The Chiefs would take a major setback in the first 14 seconds of the third when center Rasmus Ekstrom was taken out with a leg injury after taking a bad hit at mid-ice. Spokane would get power play out of it and would take advantage as Connor Roulette scored his 36th goal of the season to give Spokane a 3-2 lead.
It was a lead the team wouldn't lose. The loss of Ekstrom seemed to fire up the Chiefs as they would dominate the third, outshooting Regina 15-4 in the period. Ben Bonni would score on a wrap around in the final 3 minutes to give Spokane a 4-2 lead and Berkly Catton would add his team leading 42nd of the season with an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining to cap off a 3 goal third and a 5-2 victory. The win extended Spokane's lead over Tri City to 8 points for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West with just 13 games left for the Chiefs. The club also stayed within 2 points of Kelowna for the 7th spot and moved within 4 points of Vancouver for 6th in the conference.
The win came at a cost though as the team is now without Ekstrom as well as fellow center Owen Martin and winger Coco Armstrong due to injuries. Lukas Kral came off the injured list after missing a month and a half and contributed right away with an assist on Paupanekis goal in Friday's win. The Chiefs would still be short a forward for Saturday's game with Moose Jaw though and the club would have their hands full with one of the top offensive teams in the league. The Warriors were coming off a dominant 9-4 win at Tri City the night before and they possessed the top power play unit in the league at close to a 32% success rate.
Spokane's penalty kill would be the least of the Chiefs problems on Saturday as the Warriors came out and scored two goals in the first 2:17 of the game to take a 2-0 lead. Moose Jaw would continue to dominate the opening period as they scored two more goals 46 seconds apart midway through the frame to go up 4-0 after 20 minutes. The Warriors outshot Spokane 24-5 in the period for the biggest shot differential the Chiefs have had in a period this season. The Chiefs penalty kill was a bright spot, going 3-3 against the league's #1 power play.
The Chiefs were hoping to get back in the game in the second but the Warriors had other ideas. The Warriors would put up 3 goals in the first 8:13 of the period to put the game away at 7-0. Spokane got on the board when Connor Roulette scored his 37th of the year on the power play at 10:18 to make it 7-1. Back would come Moose Jaw with a pair of goals 52 seconds apart to make it a 9-1 contest. Chase Harrington scored his 4th of the year at 14:07 to cut the lead to 9-2, but the Warriors scored with just 13 seconds left in the period to lead it 10-2 after two.
In the third, Spokane scored their second power play goal of the night on Berkly Catton's team leading 43rd of the year at 10:27 which would bring the Chiefs to within 10-3 but the Warriors would put the game away with two more goals to hand the Chiefs their second worst loss of the season with a 12-3 defeat. Spokane was outshot 52-22 in the game, the largest shot deficit of the year. The loss cost the Chiefs the 2 points they had gained in the standings the night before as Tri City beat Regina to move back within 6 points of Spokane for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. Spokane also lost a point to 7th place Kelowna and two to 6th place Vancouver as the Chiefs now trail the Rockets by 3 and the Giants by 6 heading into the final 12 games of the season.
The club now heads out on the road for three games over the final week of February and first weekend of March. Spokane will head to Canada for the final time this regular season as they visit Kamloops on Wednesday before playing back to back games at Prince George on Friday and Saturday. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA for Wednesday and Friday's games with the pre-game shows at 6:30 pm and the puck drops at 7:05 pm. Saturday's game from PG will be on 94.1 FM the Bear and 790 AM KJRB with the pre-game at 5:30 pm and the puck drop at 6:05 pm. It's another huge week for Spokane as the club enters the final 4 weeks of the season with the playoffs in the balance. We hope to see you on the radio!
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