Chiefs Finally Lose Game, Falling 3-2 To Americans

Spokane’s clubrecord eight-game winning streak ended Wednesday night when the Tri-City Americans scored three goals in the final period to beat the Chiefs, 3-2.

The loss was Spokane’s first since a Jan. 7 home defeat to Kamloops and ended the Chiefs’ club-record fivegame road winning streak.

Spokane, which led 1-0 entering the final period thanks to Jay Bertsch’s first-period goal, fell to 19-29-1 in the Western Hockey League. Tri-City is 21-23-3.

Bertsch scored after taking a pass from Mike Hailey at 10:02, and Chiefs goaltender Jarrod Daniel made the lead hold up by stopping 20 shots in the game’s first 40 minutes.

After surviving a second period in which Scott Fletcher and Bryan McCabe were assessed penalties, Spokane surrendered three goals in the first 8:04 of the third period. Mark Hurley, Chad Cabana and Brent Ascroft scored the goals for Tri-City.

Spokane closed within 3-2 on Dimitri Leonov’s goal at 10:18. Leonov’s backhander in the slot beat Americans goaltender Brian Boucher.

The Chiefs eventually pulled Daniel, but didn’t get a scoring chance.

Chiefs game summary, C7