SPOKANE, Wash. — With the season's longest road trip now in the rear mirror, the Chiefs returned home to hopefully keep the momentum going after a win at Edmonton to end the Central Division swing. Spokane began the week just one point behind Tri City for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference and just 2 back of 7th place Vancouver. The Chiefs had a couple of chances over the weekend to move themselves up in the standings as they hosted division leading Everett on Friday and then traveled to 3rd place Wenatchee on Saturday.
First up were the Silvertips, who had moved past both Wenatchee and Portland into the top spot in the division after garnering points in 9 of their last 10 games. Friday's matchup was the third of the season between the two clubs as the road team had won the previous two contests. Head coach Ryan Smith was available for the Everett game before flying out the next day to Canada to prepare his team for the Winter Youth Olympic games in Korea next week. Assistant coaches Stefan Legein and Dustin Donaghy took over the reins for Smith in Saturday's game in Wenatchee. The game Friday with Everett was an opportunity for Spokane's third straight home win, which would be a first for the season.
Spokane went with goalie Dawson Cowan in Friday's tilt after he had performed well on the previous road trip. Cowan and forward Berkly Catton were playing in their final games over the weekend before heading to the NHL's Top Prospects game on the 24th. The Chiefs also welcomed back forward Rasmus Ekstrom, who had missed the entire Central Division trip after getting injured in the New Year's Eve game in Tri Cities. Everett had won 5 of 6 and showed why early and often on Friday. The Silvertips scored 3 goals in the first period to take a 3-0 lead into the second.
Any thought of a comeback for the Chiefs were crushed in the second as the Silvertips put up 6 goals in the middle period while continuing to keep Spokane off the scoreboard. Cowan was replaced by Cooper Michaluk after the score reached 6-0, but Everett put 3 over the final half of the frame to put the game out of reach at 9-0 heading to the third. Spokane would finally break through onto the score sheet in the final period when Berkly Catton scored his team leading 28th of the season with a power play goal to make it 9-1. Everett would put the finishing touches on the rout though with two goals in the final minute and a half to hand Spokane their worst loss of the season with an 11-1 drubbing.
It was last scenario the Chiefs envisioned to start the weekend, but Spokane didn't have any time to mope over the result as the team got back on the bus and headed to Wenatchee to take on a Wild squad that had changed a bit since the last time the two clubs met at the Spokane Arena on December 27th. The Wild had traded leading scorer Connor Geekie as well as high scoring forward Matt Savoie at the trade deadline. The Chiefs had won the last meeting at the Arena 5-2 but had lost their one and only visit to Wenatchee in late November.
Dawson Cowan would get the start in goal once again as the Chiefs looked to rebound from the previous night's disappointment. Spokane started well Saturday as the team would convert their first power play opportunity of the game when Connor Roulette scored his team leading 28th of the season 10:55 into the game to make it 1-0 Chiefs. Wenatchee responded with the tying goal just 14 seconds later when a pass from behind the Chiefs net hit Berkly Catton and went in Spokane net to even the contest at 1-1. The Chiefs came right back as Catton got his second assist with a perfect pass to Chase Bertholet, who scored his 16th of the year at 13:17 to give Spokane a 2-1 advantage after the first period.
After not giving up a power play chance to Wenatchee in the first period, the Chiefs would have to kill off 4 Wild power plays in the second period, including a 2 man advantage for Wenatchee for 1:22 late in the frame. Spokane's penalty kill was perfect in the period though as Cowan turned aside all 14 Wenatchee shots in the second to preserve the 2-1 lead heading to the third. In the final stanza, the Chiefs were back on the penalty kill three more times midway through the period, but once again Cowan and the penalty kill unit was perfect as Spokane went 7 for 7 on the PK for the game. Despite being out shot 14-11 in the third and 38-31 overall the Chiefs were able to come away with the two points as Spokane got their second straight win over Wenatchee by that 2-1 score.
The victory was huge on several fronts. First, Spokane was able to erase the nightmare of the 11-1 drubbing they had suffered the night before at home. Second, with Tri City's win at Seattle, the Chiefs were able to remain within a point of the Americans in the playoff race. Spokane's win pulled them up to 36 points and into a tie with Vancouver for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West with the Chiefs having 2 games in hand on the Giants. The win over the Wild also marked the 16th of the season for Spokane, surpassing last season's total of 15 and doing so with 2 months still left in the season.
The Chiefs have now won 2 of their last 3 and will look to use that momentum into a demanding stretch of the schedule coming up. Spokane returns home for a 3 game home stand beginning Friday night at 7:05 pm against the top team in the West in the Prince George Cougars. The U.S. Division co-leading Portland Winterhawks come to the Spokane Arena the next night at 6:05 pm and then the other co-leading U.S. team, the Everett Silvertips are back on Tuesday night at 7:05 pm. All 3 teams are ranked in the CHL national top 10 poll so the home stand will be a true barometer of where the Chiefs stack up in their bid for the playoffs.
I'll have the call for Friday and Tuesday's games on 103.5 FM the Game while Saturday's game with Portland will be on 94.1 FM the Bear due to Gonzaga basketball. The pre-game shows will start at 6:30 pm Friday and Tuesday, with Saturday's at 5:30 pm. Let's hope the effort from Saturday's win at Wenatchee will carry over into the home stand and we hope to see you at the rink!
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