Four-goal third period sends Chiefs past Calgary

Tied at 1 heading into the third period, the Spokane Chiefs needed a spark.

But it didn’t come from the usual suspects and front-line guys such as Kailer and Keanu Yamamoto and Hudson Elyniuk. Instead, many of the Chiefs’ back-line players opened the floodgates to a four-goal third period, and Spokane (8-7-4-1) cruised past Calgary (7-9-2-0) 5-2 on Friday at the Arena.

It was the Chiefs’ first regulation win since October 29.

“Our secondary scoring was at the forefront tonight,” Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said. “I thought some of our top guys had not their best nights, so we needed some complementary scoring … that’s a huge feather in our cap tonight.”

Haydan Ostir broke the 1-all tie, netting a rebound goal – his first of the season – with 17 minutes, 49 seconds to play. Kailer Yamamoto scored less than a minute later – extending his goal streak to five games and his point streak to nine – and Tyson Helgesen and Ondrei Najman added goals later in the period to open up a four-goal lead.

Leading up to the third, Nachbaur’s team led Calgary 21-9 in shots, but the coach said he wasn’t impressed with how the Chiefs were putting the pressure on the Hitmen.

“I thought we did stuff too slow,” Nachbaur said. “We ran pucks off a lot of shin pads, in to a lot of sticks. Trying to be fancy and pretty and I think we all were frustrated with it.”

That’s where back-line players such as Ethan McIndoe, who had three assists in the third period, Ostir and Najman came into give contributions when shots weren’t finding the back of the net for Spokane’s usual goal scorers.

“We just hounded their defensemen and we got pucks to the net and we got guys out there banging in goals,” McIndoe. “That’s our style of game. That’s the kind of goals we can score.”

While it wasn’t pretty, it’s exactly what Nachbaur wants his team to accomplish.

“We talk about that, that’s a method of scoring and we have to buy into that,” Nachbuar said. “That’s a big part of who we are, but our guys are bucking that system and they want to make plays. To me, it’s not working.

“Simplifying the game is what we did in the third period and it worked.”

The Hitmen scored the game’s first goal, as Mark Kastelic scored on a nice feed at the red line from Andrei Grishakov, putting Chiefs goaltender Jared Stittler out of position.

The Chiefs evened the score at the 11:33 mark in the second period, as Pavel Kousal found room in front of the net and put one past Calgary goaltender Cody Porter for a power-play goal. Jaret-Anderson Dolan and Elyniuk were credited with assists.

Spokane, sitting at 21 points and eighth in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference standings, takes on Kamloops tonight at the Arena.

Nachbaur hopes his team is trending in the direction after tonight’s results.

“When we’re competitive, we win games. When we’re not competitive, we don’t. It’s as simple as that,” he said.