Americans Beat Scrappy Chiefs, 4-3

The Tri-City Americans saved their best for last, coming from a goal down in the third period to beat the suddenly sharper Spokane Chiefs 4-3 on Saturday night.

If there’s any consolation in having a game slip away late heading into tonight’s Portland-Spokane game at 6 in the Arena, it’s that the Chiefs shook off the blahs that marked their last three games.

Adam Magarrell, John Cirjak and Dmitri Leonov had goals for Spokane before a near-capacity gathering of 5,783 who watched the Americans even this Highway 395 Series at three games apiece with six more meetings to go.

Jason Podollan and Darren Sinclair each registered a pair of assists and kept the pressure on Tri-City goaltender Brian Boucher, who was up to the challenge with 39 saves on a night when Spokane out-chanced the talent-laden Americans.

“It’s not just 39 saves,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “We had him with good people home alone and we didn’t score.”

Spokane (15-9-1) out-shot Tri-City 42-26 but fell for the third straight night. The Americans won their fourth straight, ended the Chiefs’ four-game road win streak and put another turn on the already tight race in the Western Hockey League West Division.

Spokane remains in fourth place, six points behind division-leading Kamloops.

The Chiefs, stronger with Cirjak back (he missed three games with a bruised foot), led 1-0 early and 3-2 late.

Magarrell’s first goal in a Spokane shirt came at 3:50 of the third period, but Boyd Olson scored at 11:20 and Terry Ryan followed at 13:36 to decide a game full of jarring hits and played at an exhausting pace.

The Chiefs had a shot at tying it when Tri-city defenseman Zenith Komarniski opened a cut on Spokane’s John Shockey’s face with 5 minutes left. The double-minor for high-sticking put the Chiefs on the power play for 4 minutes, trailing by one with 5 minutes left.

Spokane could do nothing with it despite a flurry at the end of the power play, and a hectic final 60 seconds in which Boucher seemed like the calmest person in the building, rejecting and directing the puck while action exploded in front of and behind the net.

“This is really our best game in a while,” Babcock said. “When you’re in the tank, it usually takes you two games (to get out of it). Not one good effort, but two. This is one. Now we’ve got to go out and get another one (tonight).”

The Chiefs snuffed a 4-minute Tri-City power play in a big way, scoring while killing off the penalty. Podollan set up Cirjak for a one-on-one duel with Boucher that Cirjak won with the backhand that put the Chiefs up 1-0 after one period.

The Americans bounced back to lead 2-1, Jaroslav Svejkovsky and Dorian Anneck scoring power-play goals. The Americans have scored on 40 percent of their power-play opportunities (8 of 20) in the last two games of this heated series.

It comes as no surprise that the Americans - loaded with three NHL first-round draft choices - have the league’s No. 6 scorer.

The surprise is that the player is Svejkovsky, who lived up to his average of more than a goal per game. The 19-year-old Czech tied the game 1-1 with his 27th goal.

Leonov answered at 16:23 of the second, taking a Podollan pass through the slot and patiently wristing the puck by Boucher inside the left post.

Magarrel’s first goal as a Chief, on a sweet feed from Sean Gillam, put the Americans in another hole, but eventually they got to goaltender Aren Miller, who had 22 saves.

Tri-City 4, Spokane 3

Spokane 1 1 1 - 3

Tri-City 0 2 2 - 4

First period - 1, Spo, Cirjak 12 (Podollan) 8:32 (short-handed). Key penalties - Bertsch, Spo, double minor, 5:19; Hamilton, Spo, 14:41; Boikov, T-C, 18:47.

Second period - 2, T-C, Svejkovsky 27 (Komarniski, Mark Hurley) 4:48 (power play); 3, T-C, Anneck 1 ( Ryan, Komarniski) 13:05 (pp); 4, Spo, Leonov 12 (Podollan, Sinclair) 16:23 (pp ). Key penalties - T-C bench (too many men on the ice) 1:08; Schutz, Spo, 4:06; Gillam, Spo, 6:36; Bertsch, Spo, 10:49; Gillam, Spo, 12:59; Boikov, Spo, 15:34; Briske, T-C, 18:28.

Third period - 5, Spo, Magarrell 1 (Gillam, Sinclair) 3:50; 6, T-C, Olson 3 (Stahl, Briske) 11:20; 7, T-C, Ryan 18 (Langkow,Boikov) 13:36 (pp). Key penalties - Podollan, Spo, 5:18; Bertsch, Spo, 12:25; Komarniski, TC, double minor, 15:00.

Power plays Opp. - Spokane 1-8 Tri-City 3-9.Saves - Miller, Spo, 5-9-8-22. Boucher, T-C, 7-18-14-39.A-5,783.

, DataTimes