Chiefs’ Lemanowicz Unsolvable Again
David Lemanowicz continued his personal assault on the Spokane Chiefs record book Saturday night at the Arena.
Twenty-four hours after shutting out the Seattle Thunderbirds, Lemanowicz fired blanks at the Kelowna Rockets in the Chiefs’ 4-0 Western Hockey League win before a sellout crowd of 10,582.
Two club goaltending records fell as the Chiefs (41-18-4) protected their two-point lead in the WHL West Division.
The first was Barry Becker’s club record for shutout minutes. Lemanowicz last gave up a goal in the second period of Wednesday night’s game at Portland, a scoreless string of more than 133 minutes. Becker’s record was 95-plus minutes.
Consecutive shutout games is also a first for a Chiefs’ netminder.
Although Lemanowicz faced only 23 shots he worked overtime compared to the night before.
“Those were quality shots,” said Jason Podollan, whose first-period goal was his 31st of the year and 139th of his career, only two shy of second-place Ray Whitney on the Chiefs’ all-time list.
“Take nothing away from David. He had 2-on-1s and half-breakaways. A lot of his saves were great. He’s been there all year for us.”
Darren Sinclair figured in all four goals, scoring the game-winner in the first period, then assisting Podollan, Adam Magarrell and Dmitri Leonov.
Skidding, Sinclair got to Trent Whitfield’s rebound and swatted it past Kelowna goalie Kim Dillabaugh with the Chiefs on the power play. Podollan set up the play that got the Chiefs out in front 15:21 into the game.
“What we try to do is walk the seam on the wall - on the half-wall there,” Podollan explained. “There was a seam and I took it to the net. The guy who was covering Whitfield on the top came down to stop me, so I just spun off and kind of gave it to Whitfield and he had the shot.
“Sinks did what he does best and that’s score goals from his belly.”
Podollan made it 2-0 with 18 seconds left in the period with what was technically an even-strength goal, coming just as a penalty on Kelowna’s Scott Parker expired. Parker was just coming out of the box - the Chiefs still had the 5-4 manpower advantage - when Podollan tipped in the puck from the slot.
After a scoreless second period, Magarrell and Leonov added the insurance in the third, Leonov with a short-handed goal.
The Chiefs hit the road today for four games, two at Prince George and two at Kelowna, before returning on Wednesday night, March 6, to play Prince George in the Arena.
Without their player of the year, Robb Gordon, and his team-leading 106 points - Gordon has missed three games with mononucleosis - and playing their fourth game in five nights, the Rockets were at less than their best. But it might not have mattered, with the impenetrable Lemanowicz lowering his WHL-best goals-against average to under 3.00.
“They came in here earlier this year without Varada (Vaclav, a 50-goal scorer last year) and two other guys and came from behind to tie us,” Babcock said. “We went into their building without players and won. Like who cares? A team’s a team. You beat ‘em and that’s it.”
Chiefs 4, Rockets 0
Kelowna 0 0 0 - 0
Spokane 2 0 2 - 4
First period-1, Spokane, Sinclair 30 (Whitfield, Podollan), 15:21 (pp). 2, Spokane, Podollan 31 (Sinclair, Gillam), 19:42. Key penalties- Curtin, Kel, :33; Schutz, Spo, 2:51; Prosofsky, Kel, 9:45; Hamilton, Kel, 14:29; Parker, Kel, 17:39.
Second period-None. Key penalties-Graf, Spo, 11:47.
Third period-3, Spokane, Magarrell 2 (Leonov, Sinclair), :32. 4, Spokane, Leonov 30 (Sinclair), 6:37 (sh). Key penalties-Hannan, Kel, 3:55; Bertsch, Spo, 5:20; Deleurme, Kel, 8:02; Varada, Kel, 12:35; Flichel, Kel, 12:41; Boschman, Spo, 17:58.
Power-play opp.-Kelowna 0 of 4; Spokane 1 of 8.Saves- Kelowna, Dillabaugh 8-10-20-38. Spokane, Lemanowicz 8-6-9-23.A-10,528.
, DataTimes