After losing 3 of 5 at home, including the last two by a combined 14-8 score, the Chiefs were probably anxious to get back on the road after being at home for the previous three weeks. Spokane had started well on the home stand, winning two of the first three, but the final two games with Everett and Portland had seen the club break down defensively. It was most apparent on the penalty kill, as the Chiefs PK were a woeful 7 for 14 in the contests with the Silvertips and Winterhawks. The goal tending was shaky as well, so the Chiefs were hoping they could shore up both the defense and goalie play as they headed out for a 3 game road trip to Victoria and Seattle. The team got some bad news off the ice, as they found out last year's leading scorer Jaret Anderson-Dolan will be lost for the next 6-8 weeks after surgery for a broken wrist.
With that bit of dreadful news, the team headed to Victoria to face the Royals for the first time this season. Things didn't exactly go as planned from the opening puck drop, as the Royals scored just 9 seconds into the game on goalie Bailey Brkin to make it 1-0. Victoria then scored on their next shot at 1:55 in to go ahead 2-0 and spell the end of the night for Brkin, who was replaced in the first period for the second time in the last 3 games. The Chiefs Riley Woods cut the deficit to 2-1 with his team leading 13th goal of the year just 58 later though to get Spokane back in the game. Victoria went back up by 2 late in the first, but once again Woods responded with his second of the night at 18:15 to bring the Chiefs within 3-2 after one. It marked the second straight game Woods scored two goals in a contest and kept Spokane in the game after being out shot 16-6 in the first.
The Royals went back up by 2 with a goal just over 8 minutes into the second period, but Spokane scored on their first power play of the night on a Luke Toporowski tally at 17:02 to get within 4-3. Victoria scored again with just 56 seconds left in the second though to take a 5-3 advantage into the third. Ethan McIndoe's highlight reel goal just over 2.5 minutes into the third got Spokane within one once again at 5-4, but two goals 3:23 apart midway through the third put the game away for Victoria at 7-4. Carter Chorney's late goal at 14:19 breathed a bit of hope making it 7-5, but Spokane was unable to get any closer after pulling goalie Dawson Weatherill in the final 3 minutes as the Royals extended the Chiefs losing streak to three with a 7-5 victory. The third period was promising for Spokane as they out shot Victoria 16-5, but giving up 2 goals on 5 shots was not so promising. After struggling badly on special teams in the previous two games, Spokane went 1-2 on the power play and a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill. Defensively though, the team is still struggling, having surrendered 21 goals in their last 3 games.
To make matters worse, the team lost both forward Jake McGrew and defenseman Luke Gallagher to concussions in the game, and would be without them the next night in the final game of the series in Victoria. The Chiefs called up forward Owen MacNeil, the team's second round pick to fill in up front. Spokane went with Dawson Weatherill in net after his relief appearance the night before, and the Chiefs would come out with a far better start than the night before as Riley Woods continued his torrid scoring pace with his 5th goal in his last 3 games almost 6 minutes into the game to give Spokane a 1-0 lead. Victoria would tie the game on a short handed goal midway through the period to tie the contest at one, but the Chiefs countered with a power play goal from Luke Toporowski 2:05 later to take the lead for good at 2-1. Filip Kral's first goal of the season with 1:07 remaining in the first gave the Chiefs a 3-1 lead after one as the team out shot Victoria 14-5 in the period.
Eli Zummack scored just 9 seconds into the second period to put Spokane up 4-1, but Victoria would cut the lead to 4-2 midway through the period. The Chiefs re-took a 3 goal lead as Egor Arbuzov's second goal of this career made it 5-2 after two. Spokane would kill off 2 Victoria power plays in the third, going a perfect 6 for 6 on the night and would put the game away on empty net goals from Cordel Larson and Carter Chorney to snap their season high 3 game losing streak with a decisive 7-2 victory. Weatherill played his best game of the season in net with 30 saves, and Woods put up 3 more points to register 10 in his last 3 games. Ty Smith, after a sub par first game in Victoria, was back to his usual self, as he registered 2 assists to extend his points scoring streak to 6 in a row. It was a great bounce back game for Spokane as they moved a point ahead of Tri City for third in the U.S. and 5 up on Seattle, where the Chiefs would head next to wrap up the 3 game road trip.
Spokane scored a decisive 4-1 win over the Thunderbirds in the two teams first meeting two weeks previously, so the Chiefs knew the T-Birds would come out ready for a little payback on Tuesday night. The team did welcome back center Jack Finley, who returned from the Under-17 tournament in Canada. Spokane was still without McGrew and Gallagher though as Weatherill got the start in net for the second straight game. The Chiefs made a major defensive gaffe early in the first period off the face-off and Seattle's Peyton Mount scored off a wide open back hand net front just over 3 minutes in to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead after one. Another mistake by the Chiefs led to a 2 on 1 for Seattle early in the second period and the Thunderbirds converted to take a 2-0 lead after two. Spokane had gone 0-5 when trailing after two periods this season, so things didn't look good for the Chiefs heading to the third.
After failing on their first 4 power plays, the Chiefs broke through just over 7 minutes into the third on an Ethan McIndoe rebound of a Ty Smith shot to close the gap at 2-1. Spokane kept the pressure on late in the period and got back even when Smith finished off an Eli Zummack feed with just over 3 minutes left to tie the game at two. The Chiefs were 0-1-0-2 when heading into overtime this season, but would put that winless streak aside in this contest, as Luke Toporowski scored with 1:02 remaining in overtime to give the Chiefs a huge come from behind 3-2 OT victory. The win was the second straight on the trip, the second in a row over Seattle, and pulled Spokane past Tri City into third place in the U.S. Division. Smith extended his points scoring streak to 7 straight, and has now scored points in 16 of 17 games this season. Weatherill notched a season high 37 saves in goal for his second straight win as he seems to be regaining the form he showed at the end of last year.
A 2-1 road trip is never a bad thing, especially when you lose the first one. Now the team will hope to use that momentum into a 3 games in 3 nights weekend. Spokane returns home to host Seattle on Friday before Calgary comes to town for their bi-annual visit on Saturday. The Chiefs will finish off the weekend at division leading Everett on Sunday, so this weekend is a prime chance to see if the club can narrow the 5 point deficit behind the Silvertips in the U.S. I'll have the call on 1510 KGA for all three games this weekend. Friday and Saturday's games will be at 7:05pm, with the pre-games at 6:30pm. Sunday's game from Everett is a 4:05pm start with a 3:30pm pre-game. Let's hope the Chiefs continue their winning ways this weekend...and we hope to see you at the rink!
