Chiefs’ offensive woes continue in loss at Portland

The Spokane Chiefs are in desperate need of some home cooking.

Spokane struggled offensively yet again Friday night and fell to the Portland Winterhawks 4-1 in Western Hockey League action in Portland.

Portland’s Paul Bittner and Brandan De Jong scored in the first period and Chase De Leo scored twice in the second to put the Chiefs in a 4-0 hole.

Nick Charif finally got Spokane on the board with a power-play goal in the third period. The goal snapped a streak of 12 straight against the Chiefs through the past three games.

The Chiefs (23-18-3-1) had opportunitites – they outshot Portland 34-33 – but just couldn’t convert. Winterhawks keeper Evan Johnson stopped 33 of 34 shots.

The loss was Spokane’s third straight. The Chiefs remain in third place in the WHL’s U.S. Division. They have 50 points, five behind second-place Portland (26-19-0-3) and 14 behind division-leading Everett.

Spokane hosts Tri-City tonight at 7:05.