Chiefs Triumph Again Double-Overtime Win Ties Up Playoff Series

Joe Cardarelli brought the Spokane Chiefs back twice in the third period Sunday night with game-tying goals, the second with a desperation, no-look shot from out of a scramble with 31 seconds to go.

It came with the Chiefs trailing by one.

That left it up to veteran Randy Favaro to drive home the game-winner, a wrist shot from the right point 3:50 into the second overtime of an improbable 4-3 Spokane win.

After going at it for 2 minutes shy of 4 hours, the teams will play a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night in the Arena, tied in this Western Hockey League West Division quarterfinal at three games apiece.

It’s been a long road back.

Dominant in Friday night’s 5-0 win, the Chiefs were a different club - outshot 62-47 for the night and 17-5 in the first overtime.

They won it on goaltending - David Lemanowicz turned in 59 saves, 17 in the first overtime - and desperation.

“What can you say about Cardarelli?” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “What can you say about a kid who came off the bench and hit two homers? That’s about as good a pinch-hitting effort as you’ll ever see.”

Cardarelli didn’t have a regular shift in the first period and saw spot duty in the second. When he came on late in the game with the Chiefs on the power play he remembered thinking, ‘This could be our last shift of the year.”

It seemed like it, the Hawks holding a 3-2 lead and the final minute slipping away in front of 6,759 in Memorial Coliseum.

“I wanted to make something happen,” Cardarelli said. “We all went to the net. There was a big scramble and Whitter (Trent Whitfield) got it out to me. I just shot - didn’t even look. “They’re always like that.”

They meaning the impossible.

Even Babcock was beginning to wonder if time had finally run out on a record-breaking season.

“You wondered if it was going to happen,” he said. “They were going, big-time. They played great and we were the team that I saw earlier in the playoffs.”

Trailing 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, the Chiefs got a second-period goal from Joel Boschman to tie it the first time.

Todd Robinson, Andrew Ference and Doug Strobl scored for the Winter Hawks, Strobl’s goal coming at 14:40 of the third to put Portland up 3-2.

That’s the way it stood until the 19:29 mark, when Cardarelli broke through.

After a scoreless 20 minutes of overtime, the teams went at it for a second sudden-death session, ended by Favaro, who picked up the rebound of a Darren Sinclair shot.

Favaro sent a rebound floating over goaltender Brent Belecki’s right shoulder to end the marathon sixth game of a series the Chiefs once trailed three games to none.

“I was supposed to be the third guy high and I caught myself a little deep,” Favaro said. “I managed to get back and turned around. The rebound came out and like they always say, put something on net and you never know what can happen.

“It was the biggest shot of my life, one I don’t think I’ll forget.”

Belecki said he kicked out Sinclair’s shot and thought “we were regrouping and going the other way.

” I didn’t even think another shot was coming,” the goaltender added. “I was down low, trying to locate the puck and it just sneaked over my shoulder. I didn’t even see it until it was in the net.”

The Hawks got on the board at 14:14 of the first period on what was essentially a broken play, Robinson finding the puck on his tape in the slot with Portland on the power play.

Taking the body, finishing checks, clearing their defensive zone, the Hawks outshot the Chiefs 30-21 through two periods.

The Chiefs got on the board in the second period on Boschman’s long slap shot, assisted by Jason Podollan, who came into the game as the WHL’s fourth-leading playoff scorer.

It was Podollan’s 12th point in six playoff games.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TICKETS ON SALE Tickets for Wednesday’s Portland-Spokane finale go on sale at 8 a.m. today at the Arena ticket office