Kichton, Hughson lead Chiefs to victory

EVERETT – Brenden Kichton scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season and Garret Hughson stopped 25 of 26 shots Wednesday night to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 win over the Everett Silvertips at Comcast Arena. Todd Fiddler added his team-high 40th goal for the Chiefs (37-24-2-0, 76 points), who closed within one point of idle Tri-City (37-22-1-2, 77) for fourth place in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference. Fiddler is the fifth Chief in the last six years to compile 40 goals or more. The Chiefs won their third consecutive game, all with backup Hughson in goal, and posted their fifth win in the last seven games. Spokane leads the season series with Everett 5-2-0-0 with one game left, March 8 in Spokane. Kichton took over the team lead with 72 points, one more than Fiddler and two more than Mitch Holmberg. Holmberg assisted on Kichton’s power-play goal with 1 second left in the first period for a 2-1 lead. It was Kichton’s fourth winning goal of the season. Blake Gal also assisted on the go-ahead goal and Fiddler’s score late in the second period for a 3-1 edge. Fiddler is tied for fourth place in league goals, four behind Portland’s Brendan Leipsic and Nicolas Petan. The Chiefs welcomed back defenseman Jason Fram, who had been out since Feb. 1 with a lower-body injury. Spokane has nine games remaining in the regular season. The Chiefs play Friday and Saturday at Victoria, which is seven points behind Spokane for fifth place in the conference. The teams have split two games this season. Spokane’s next home game is Wednesday against Seattle, the start of five consecutive games at the Arena. The Chiefs are 16-15-1-0 on the road and 19-12-2-0 against teams from the U.S. Division. Everett (22-36-1-4) is 1-10-0-2 in its last 13 games. The Silvertips are trying to hold off Prince George for the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.