Chiefs start fast, flame out in loss to Americans

It was one of those games in which it’s difficult to say if the Tri-City Americans won or the Spokane Chiefs lost.

In the end it didn’t matter, as Tri-City skated to a 4-3 shootout victory over Spokane in Western Hockey League play Saturday night at the Spokane Arena.

Tri-City (44 points) moved into a second-place tie with Seattle, while Spokane (43) fell to fourth. The teams meet again tonight in Kennewick.

The Chiefs were 12-0 when leading after two periods, which they did in this one. But Spokane let Tri-City tie the game just 37 seconds into the third period on Taylor Procyshen’s short-handed goal.

“I didn’t think we were great for the full 60-minute effort and anytime you give up the game-tying goal in a short-handed situation for the other team, it’s disappointing,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters.

His team was uneven – a great first period and mostly downhill from there.

“We got off to a great start, but we let up a little bit – took our foot off the gas – and they came back,” said Spokane’s Michael Grabner, who had two goals on the night. He has seven goals in his last three games.

Spokane got good efforts from two new players on the back end. Newly acquired veteran Stephane Lenoski had an impressive debut while 15-year-old Jared Cowen overcame some early jitters to have a solid night on defense. Both also contributed on the power play.

“I didn’t have a problem with our defense tonight,” said Peters. “I thought our forwards didn’t pay the price in the corners. We’re going to need a much more mature effort than that if we’re going to win some games in the second half.”

Spokane outshot Tri-City 15-5 in the first period and led 2-1, thanks to Grabner’s goals, but the Americans struck first.

Tri-City rookie Erik Felde sent in a shot from between the top of the circles, splitting two defenseman and getting it past Chiefs goalie Dustin Tokarski.

Grabner responded for the Chiefs with goals 3 minutes, 49 seconds apart.

The first came on the power play. Grabner took a feed from Lenoski and one-timed it to the high, stick side of Americans goaltender Chet Pickard at the 13:01 mark. His second goal came unassisted, from the left circle, when he banged it in off the far post at the 16:50 mark.

Between Grabner’s goals, Spokane had a deflection goal by David Rutherford off a shot from the point by Evan Haw. Referee Andy Thiessen voided the score because of a high-stick call.

Spokane, however, got the goal back when Tri-Cities product Seth Compton put in a rebound of his shot just 2:17 into the period.

But the Chiefs didn’t look nearly as sharp the rest of the period and Tri-City cut the lead to just one goal when Colton Yellow Horn, the Ams’ leading scorer, was left unattended at the 8:18 mark to make it 3-2. Procyshen’s goal forced the 4-on-4 overtime, which went scoreless.

In the shootout, Tri-City scored on all three shots while Spokane made just one. The second Ams make was a tough one. Tokarski made the stop and tried to pick up the puck off the ice as he slid back toward the net. He and the puck came to a rest past the goal line.

Grabner, who was stopped by Pickard several times down the stretch, missed on the next attempt. Shaun Vey’s make became the game-winning goal.

Ams 4, Chiefs 3 (SO)

Tri-City won shootout 3-1

First Period—1, TC, Felde 13 (Gillies) 9:57; 2, Spo, Grabner 18 (Lenoski, Ryan) 13:01 (pp); 3, Spo, Grabner 19 16:50.

Second Period—4, Spo, Compton 7 (Blackwater) 2:17; 5, TC, Yellow Horn 23 (Broda, Vey) 8:18.

Third Period—6, TC, Procyshen 17 (Reddick) 0:37 (sh).

Overtime—None. Shootout—Tri-City 3 (Yellow Horn make, Felde make, Vey make); Spokane 1 (Ryan make; Grabner, miss).

Power-play Opp.—Tri-City 1 of 7; Spokane 0 of 2. Saves—Tri-City, Pickard 35; Spokane, Tokarski 21. A—8,324.