Streaking Chiefs Nearer To Title Spokane Beats Kelowna 3-2, Moves In On West Crown

The Spokane Chiefs took another step toward their first Western Hockey League West Division championship Wednesday night, but because of the WHL’s curious tie-break procedure, they still have work to do.

Joe Cardarelli scored two goals and Greg Leeb made an impressive return from a knee injury in a 3-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets before 6,695 fans in the Arena.

Winning for the 48th time against only 18 losses and four ties, the Chiefs extended their win streak to 10 and their unbeaten string to 12 games, both club records.

They haven’t lost in a month.

And although they assured themselves of no worse than a tie for the division championship, the Chiefs really didn’t clinch anything, since Kamloops would win the regular-season title should the season come down to a Spokane-Kamloops tie for first.

The first tie-breaker is total wins. So, even though the Chiefs went 7-0-1 in their eight-game series with Kamloops, the Blazers would be the top seed heading into next week’s playoffs based on more wins, should the two clubs end in a tie.

The Blazers, knocked off Tuesday night in Prince George, are 46-21-2, with 94 points, six points behind the Chiefs.

Kamloops has three games remaining, Spokane two.

“If we tie with them we lose,” coach Mike Babcock said, “so we didn’t clinch anything. What we did do was make sure we got 100 points, which is a feather in the guys’ cap, with two days to prepare for Tri-City.”

One hundred points is another franchise first.

Spokane can claim the division championship by beating Tri-City on Saturday night or Prince George in Sunday night’s regular-season finale.

The Tri-City game is sold out.

Wednesday night, the Chiefs went up 1-0 on a gift goal, Cardarelli putting a soft shot between the pads of goaltender Kim Dillabaugh 2:06 into the game, a mistake Dillabaugh atoned for by making tough saves the rest of the way.

The predominant preseason favorite in the West, Kelowna lost for the fourth time in five games under new head coach Al Kerr. The Rockets have dropped eight of their last 11, no way to be going with a first-round playoff series with Tri-City coming up in little more than a week.

Hurt by defensive inconsistency all year, Kelowna got 44 saves from Dillabaugh, who kept it close.

Kelowna’s Vaclav Varada tied it 1-1, re-directing Burt Henderson’s slap shot at 11:18 of the first period with the Rockets on the power play.

Other than that, it was another strong night for the Chiefs’ hard-working penalty-killers.

Spokane toyed with fire all night, taking penalties that put Kelowna’s potent power play on the ice seven times. The Rockets are No. 2 in the league in power-play efficiency at 28 percent, but they went scoreless in six of their seven power-play opportunities.

The Chiefs were strengthened further by the return of Leeb, who has missed eight games with a strained knee.

Leeb’s 31st goal of the year with the Chiefs on the power play gave Spokane a 2-1 lead at 14:06 of the first period.

Leeb, wearing a custom-fit brace to shore up a strained medial collateral ligament, assisted on Cardarelli’s second goal, with the Chiefs again on the power play, that at 13:13 of the second period.

Brett Mclean’s goal 5 minutes into the third period made it a one-goal game, and made for some tense moments down the stretch for Babcock.

“We weren’t as good as we have been,” he said. “The first 10 minutes we ran the show and then we started playing like them - back and forth, turning the puck over, doing things I don’t like to see us do.”

Jan Hrdina had a pair of assists, centering on a forward line with Cardarelli and John Cirjak.

“Hrdina’s line dominated totally, except they didn’t score like they should,” Babcock said. “They had so many chances. They were in home free time and again. They’ve got to bury those. Even Jason Podollan. I don’t know how many chances he had.

“But Kelowna forced us at times to break down defensively. They have some good players. We were 0-2-1 against them at the start of the year. We end up 5-2-1. I’d say that’s looking after business.”

Chiefs 3, Rockets 2

Kelowna 1 0 1 - 2

Spokane 2 1 0 - 3

First period - 1, Spo, Cardarelli 24 (Cirjak, Hrdina) 2:06; 2, Kel, Varada 38 (Henderson, Gordon) 11:18 (power play); 3, Spo, Leeb 31 (Podollan, Whitfield) 14:06 (pp). Key penalties - Cirjak, Spo, 4:06; Parker, Kel, 6:29; Gillam, Spo, 7:19; Boschman, Spo, 9:50; Mclean, Kel, 12:49; Gillam, Spo, 17:17.

Second period - 4, Spo, Cardarelli 25 (Leeb, Hrdina) 13:13 (pp). Key penalties - Hrdina, Spo, 1:28; Boschman, Spo, 5:12; Parker, Kel, 8:08; Whitfield, Spo, 10:18; Grimard, Kel, 12:33; Henderson, Kel, 19:26.

Third period - 5, Kel, Mclean 37 (Wade) 5:07. Key penalties - None.

Power plays opp.-Kelowna 1-7, Spokane 2-5.Saves- Dillabaugh, Kel, 10-16-18-44. Lemanowicz, Spo, 5-10-6-21.A-6,695.

, DataTimes