Chiefs find themselves in 3-1 hole against Everett

The last five periods of the Western Hockey League playoff series between the Spokane Chiefs and Everett have been notable for the number of Chiefs shots fired at rookie goalie Carter Hart. Those shots have done little damage, allowing Hart and his Silvertips to move within one win of closing out the best-of-7 first-round series. Hart stopped 34 of 35 shots Friday as Everett defeated the Chiefs 3-1 at the Arena to take a 3-1 series lead. The Chiefs must win at Everett tonight to force a Game 6 at the Arena on Tuesday. Hart also stopped all 31 shots the Chiefs uncorked during the third period and overtime when Everett posted a 2-1 win in Game 3 on Wednesday. The Chiefs rattled Hart during a 6-2 victory in Game 2, but in the other three games Hart has stopped 101 of 103 shots. “It’s been a fun place to play,” Hart said of Spokane. “The boys have helped me out the whole way, keeping the shots to the perimeter and making my job easier. So it’s been good here.” “(Hart) didn’t have a very good game in Game 2, and he responded the way a competitive athlete should respond by really being ready to dig in and compete,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Is he hot or are we just hitting him with the puck?” Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur said. “I mean, I counted six shots that went off the glass. Kailer (Yamamoto) had a great chance in the third period that would have made it 3-2 and he fired it off the glass.” The Silvertips scored twice in the second period and boosted their lead to 3-0 during the seventh minute of the third. Fortune smiled on Logan Aasman’s goal at 2:21 of the second, which replays showed rolled down the back of Chiefs goalie Garret Hughson. “I think it was to the side of the net and (Aasman) poked at it and it … just popped over,” Nachbaur said. “It was a lucky goal, but give them credit. They got that puck to an area that’s tough to defend.” The Silvertips zipped past Spokane’s defense for the next two goals. Brayden Low fed Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick Nikita Scherbak at 11:54 of the second for a 2-0 lead, and the two reversed roles for Everett’s final goal with 13:12 left. “We made a mistake for a 2-on-1 with the second goal, which was a backbreaker, where our ‘D’ pinched and we had no support …” Nachbaur said. The final goal was more of the same. “They got blown away,” Nachbaur said. “No disrespect to our ‘D,’ but the kid has a lot of speed and it’s just gutting it out at that point. (Hughson) didn’t have much of a chance on that second goal or that third goal.” Spokane broke through with 9:07 left on Yamamoto’s power-play goal. Until then, Spokane had been 0 for 6 with the man advantage, including a 4-minute power play early in the first period that developed into a 5-on-3 for nearly a minute. “You can look at the power plays, but both teams aren’t generating anything with the power play,” Nachbaur said. “I think the penalty kills on both teams are really committed.”