Chiefs Don’t Fall For Old Trick

The first act of the Tacoma Rockets’ 7-2 loss Wednesday night was all too familiar to the 3,279 fans in the Coliseum.

Spokane ran up a quick 3-0 lead, Tacoma coach Marcel Comeau yanked goaltender Todd MacDonald and the Chiefs faithful waited for the Rockets to go off.

It happened that way on Nov. 5, when backup goalie Kim Dillabaugh came on for MacDonald and keyed Tacoma’s 5-4 comeback win.

This time the weary Rockets blew their lines - the Chiefs riddled Dillabaugh with four second-period goals - and the stage was left to emerging stars.

Dmitri Leonov, who came in with only 17 points in 29 games, had two goals and a pair of assists to keep the Chiefs on task for two explosive periods.

Spokane led 3-0 after one and 7-1 at the second-period intermission, more than enough for goaltender Jarrod Daniel, who registered 44 saves as the Chiefs won for the sixth time in seven games.

“The difference this time is that we held the 3-0 lead through one,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “In that other situation we were behind 4-3 at the break.”

Sean Gillam’s 15th goal of the year - on a drive from the right point with the Chiefs on their first power play - came 3 minutes into the game.

It was a relief to Babcock, who watched Prince Albert take his club out of Sunday night’s game with a quick start.

The hard-shooting Leonov took advantage of a Rocket giveaway to slap the puck just under the crossbar for Spokane’s second goal.

The Rockets were on a power play when Leonov notched his first goal of the night. The short-handed strike sent MacDonald to the Rockets bench.

“I don’t think our defense got off the bus until the game got out of hand,” Comeau said. “MacDonald didn’t have much support. One deflection he doesn’t have much of a chance on and two breakaways and it’s 3-0.”

Tacoma (35-24-2) took the regular-season series five games to two but dropped its second straight to the Chiefs when its usually dangerous power play - third in the Western Hockey League - went an impotent 1-10.

Spokane (25-33-1) had Tuesday night off while the Rockets were beating Prince Albert in overtime in the Tacoma Dome. As taxing as that was, Comeau dismissed fatigue as a factor.

“No excuses,” the coach said. “We have to play harder than that to win.”

Twenty-four hours after cooling off Prince Albert with four points, Tacoma’s Vaclav Varada struck for two more goals, the second set up by John Varga. It allowed Varga to tie Allan Egeland’s Rockets record for career assists with his 172nd.

The Chiefs were coming off an embarrassing 6-1 loss to Prince Albert that cost them more than their captain, Kevin Sawyer.

Sawyer was slapped with a three-game suspension for his role in Sunday night’s P.A. debacle. Defenseman Adam Magarrell also picked up a game misconduct, his third of the year that brings from the league an automatic one-game suspension.

Magarrell will sit out Friday night’s game at Kamloops. Defenseman John Shockey is also out after the hand he cut in another Sunday night altercation became infected. He’s being treated in a Spokane hospital.

The Rockets again were without defenseman Alexandre Alexeev, whose injured wrist will keep him out for 10 to 14 days.

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