SPOKANE, Wash. — After dropping their first two home games of the season to divisional foes, the Chiefs responded last week with a pair of victories at the Spokane Arena to raise their record over the .500 mark and into third place in the U.S. Division. Spokane then headed out on the road this week, where they had won their first two before dropping their last road contest at Kelowna. The team was facing their toughest road trip to date, as they headed out for a demanding 3 games in 3 nights stretch through Victoria and Vancouver.
First up were back to back games in Victoria against the a Royals team that had won 2 straight at home. Victoria had got off to a slow start but had won 4 of 5 move themselves into third in the B.C. Division. It was also the first time the Chiefs would face former teammate Grady Lane, who was dealt to the Royals prior to the season. Spokane was hoping to continue the success they had against Victoria last year, as the Chiefs had won both games in Victoria while taking 3 of 4 from the Royals in the season series. They were the only team Spokane had won the season series from last year.
The Chiefs came out in game one of the trip Friday in Victoria looking like a team that was intent on starting the road trip on a winning note. Newest Chiefs defenseman Layton Feist, who scored an assist in his first game the previous Saturday against Brandon, scored his first goal as a Chief just 3:50 into the contest to give Spokane a 1-0 lead. Forward Cam Parr then scored his first of the season on a rebound at 5:16 to extend the lead to 2-0. Linemate Coco Armstrong picked up his first career point with an assist on Parr's goal. Connor Roulette then made it 3-0 with his third of the season just 56 seconds after Parr's goal as Spokane scored 3 goals in the first 6:12 of the game. Victoria would cut the margin to 3-1 with a power play goal midway through the period as the Chiefs took a 3-1 lead to the second period.
In the second, goalie Cooper Michaluk turned away all 12 Victoria shots as the Chiefs penalty kill went a perfect 5 for 5 in the middle frame to keep the two goal lead heading to the third. Spokane would come out in the third and build the lead to 4-1 as Armstrong netted his first career goal at 1:54 of the period on a nifty feed from Parr. The Chiefs then went on a 5 minute power play after a major penalty on the Royals early in the period. The bad news was forward Chase Bertholet was knocked out of the game with a hit to the head. Spokane failed to score on the 5 minute man advantage, but would hold a 3 goal lead past the midway point of the period.
The game would turn against the Chiefs as Spokane went on their second power play of the period midway through the third. With a chance to take a 4 goal lead and put the game away, the Chiefs not only failed to score on the man advantage but coughed up a short handed goal to the Royals at 11:24 as Victoria cut the Spokane lead to 4-2. The Royals then went on the power play with less than 6 minutes left and they would score on a net front rebound at 15:19 to cut the margin to 4-3. Victoria then pulled their goalie in the final 2 minutes and equalized on their third straight goal of the period at 18:24 to tie the game at 4-4 and send the contest to overtime.
In the overtime, the Chiefs put up 3 of the 5 shots, but the Royals won the puck out of their zone just over 3 minutes in and defenseman Nate Misskey did the rest as he went the length of the ice and scored unassisted at 3:09 of OT to give Victoria a come from behind 5-4 victory. It was a crushing loss for the young Chiefs as their chance to gain 2 points in a tight U.S. Division race slipped through their hands and the team went from 3rd to 5th in the division after the loss. Spokane didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the loss though as they had to turn around the next night and try to salvage a split in the two game series as they faced the Royals in the second game of the three game weekend.
The Chiefs were without Chase Bertholet, who was injured the night before and went with goalie Dawson Cowan, who took over for Cooper Michaluk in net. Victoria would strike first in game two as a power play goal from Misskey midway through the first period to give the Royals a 1-0 lead after one. Victoria would extend the lead to 2-0 on another tally just over 6 minutes into the second and it appeared the Chiefs were in for a long night. Spokane would get back in the contest on the power play. After failing to score on the man advantage in their first 8 tries over two games, Spokane converted on a Ty Cheveldayoff re-direct net front at 13:45 to cut the margin to 2-1. The Chiefs struck again on their next power play less than 3 minutes later as Connor Roulette scored his 4th of the year to even the game at 2-2. Spokane finished off a 3 goal period as Lukas Kral notched his 3rd of the season with 50 seconds left in the frame to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead after two.
Spokane held the lead through most of the third as the two teams traded chances. The Chiefs got 2 power play opportunities to extend the lead in the third, but failed to score on either one. Victoria didn't get a power play until there was just 1:04 left in the game. The Royals pulled their goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage and would convert the chance as their leading goal scorer Robin Sapousek scored with 40 seconds left to tie the game at 3-3 and send the two teams to overtime for the second straight contest. Spokane would get a power play chance at the end of the third and would start the OT with a 1:54 man advantage. The Chiefs though would fail to score, and the game went into the final minute of overtime still tied. Victoria would get a rush in the final half minute and Sapousek would score on a rebound with just 28 seconds left to give the Royals their second straight overtime win over the Chiefs by a final of 4-3.
The club was able to grab a point each game in Victoria, but the Chiefs also lost third period leads in both contests, which has to be a point of concern going forward. Spokane played a better game defensively against the Royals in game two, but gave up 2 power play goals for the second straight game as well. The Chiefs headed to Vancouver with 10 points, tied with Seattle and Everett for 4th in the division, but just 1 point back of second place Tri City and Wenatchee. The team now had a chance to move into second if they could knock off Vancouver in the Chiefs third game in three nights on Sunday. The Giants were struggling of late, and had dropped 5 straight, including 2 in a row on the road at Wenatchee and Kelowna over the previous two nights. Vancouver is coached by former Chiefs head coach Manny Viveiros and former head coach Adam Maglio is an assistant with the Giants.
The Giants got things started midway through the first period with a goal from defenseman Colton Roberts to jump out to a 1-0 lead after one. Vancouver grew the lead to 2-0 on a power play tally just over 5 minutes into the second period but the Chiefs answered with a Connor Roulette goal at 8:06 to cut the margin in half at 2-1. The Giants came back on a breakaway 2.5 minutes later though and would take a 3-1 advantage to the third period. Vancouver made it 4-1 just over 2 minutes into the third and things looked bleak for Spokane at that point.
The Chiefs started getting back in the game when Roulette scored his second of the night at 5:18 to make it 4-2 Vancouver. Spokane then scored off a 4 on 4 chance as Layton Feist scored his second goal in 3 games at 10:48 and suddenly the Chiefs were right back in the contest as they were down by just 4-3. Unfortunately, that was as close as they got as a turnover by Spokane with their net empty led to the final goal for the Giants and Vancouver snapped their 5 game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Chiefs. It was a classic case of too little, too late for Spokane as they scored two of their three goals and put up 17 of their 35 shots in the third period, but a 4-1 deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
Spokane notched 2 of the possible 6 points over the weekend, but there is no question the club should have had 3 to 4 points. Two blown 3rd period leads in Victoria were devastating and then a big deficit in Vancouver led to 3 straight defeats on the road, where Spokane is now 2-2-2 on the season with 4 straight losses. The Chiefs are now in danger of falling into last place in the U.S. Division this week if they can't find the win column this weekend at home. Spokane will host Kelowna and Everett at the Spokane Arena Friday and Saturday nights at 7:05 and 6:05 pm respectively. The Chiefs lost their first meeting to the Rockets in Kelowna but defeated the Silvertips in Everett with one of their better performances of the year. Spokane will need more of the same this weekend. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows starting at 6:30 pm Friday and 5:30 pm Saturday. We hope to see you at the rink!
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