No Pressure, No Problem West Was Won, But No Letdown

They came into this one with the West already won. For the first time all season, in their 71st game, the Western Hockey League West Division champion Spokane Chiefs finally played a game they didn’t have to win.

They won it anyway, the hard way, with three third-period goals in a 5-3 come-from-behind win over the Tri-City Americans before 10,528 in the Arena.

The victory - a club-record 49th - kept the Chiefs in the running for the best record in the 17-team Western Hockey League.

The Chiefs have 102 points, one less than Brandon. Both Brandon and the Chiefs finish the regular season at home tonight, Spokane with the Prince George Cougars at 6, Brandon with the tough Prince Albert Raiders.

Should Spokane win and Brandon lose, the Chiefs will head into the playoffs Friday night with a league-high 104 points, and the huge home-ice playoff advantage that goes to the top club out of the regular season.

“We had a lot more to play for tonight than they did,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “The guys didn’t have the second effort you need in the first two periods but they really stepped up in the third.”

Down 3-2 after two periods, the Chiefs rallied to tie at 5:55 of the third on Greg Leeb’s 32nd goal of the year, on the power-play.

Darren Sinclair, introduced prior to the game as the Chiefs’ Most Valuable Player, registered the game-winner at 11:11 of the third.

The Americans, who head into the playoffs third in the West Division with a 45-25-2 record, lost only two games in which they led after two periods.

Both were to the Chiefs, both in a span of eight days.

“That’s what we talked about before the third period,” Babcock said. “They’ve only given up a (two-period) lead once this year. That was last week. They’re going to do it again.”

They caved under the pressure from the line of Jay Bertsch, Sinclair and Dmitri Leonov, who added the insurance goal, unassisted, at 15:53 of the third.

“They had four goals and they played against Langkow (Tri-City center and captain Daymond Langkow).”

Langkow scored his 30th goal at 9:24 of the second to put Tri-City up 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Bertsch had two first-period goals, the first a slap shot from the top of the right circle that made it through the pads of goaltender Aaron Baker. Bertsch took the puck from Tri-City’s Jody Lapeyre at the Tri-City blue line and turned it into his 14th goal of the year.

After the Americans rallied for a 2-1 lead on goals by Mark Hurley on the power play and Grady Manson short-handed, Hrdina set up Bertsch’s second goal to tie it, stripping the puck from Byron Briske and feathering it to Bertsch in the slot.

Although the Chiefs came in with their first division title in the club’s 11-year-history, Babcock said his team didn’t sail in on a cloud.

“This morning, when we got together, we said, ‘Enjoy the afternoon. Enjoy winning the West Division. And let’s get out and win a game tonight, because if Prince Albert is willing to do us a favor (by beating Brandon), we want to be in position to take advantage of it.”’ he said.

“They can take a day to enjoy themselves Monday. It’s a banquet day. I’m going to skate them hard and then we’ll take Tuesday off and get back at her. But it’s a huge game for us (tonight).

Backup goaltender Aren Miller will get the start as the Chiefs, who have allowed 221 goals, make a run at winding up with the third-best defensive mark since the WHL expanded to a 72-game season. Only last year’s Kamloops Blazers (202) and the ‘81 Victoria Cougars (217) were harder to score against.

The ‘94 Blazers allowed 225.

Chiefs 5, Americans 3

Tri-City 2 1 0 - 3

Spokane 2 0 3 - 5

First period - 1, Spokane, Bertsch 14 (Sinclair, Leonov), 12:07. 2, Tri-City, Ma.Hurley 34 (Briske, Dubinksy), 15:10 (pp). 3, Tri-City, Manson 26, 16:40 (sh). 4, Spokane, Bertsch 15 (Hrdina), 18:56. Key penalties - Magarrell, Spo, :54; Bertsch, Spo, 3:06; Boikov, TC, 4:33; Boschman, Spo, 13:34; McCallum, TC, 16:31.

Second period - 5, Tri-City, Langkow 30 (Manson), 9:24. Key penalties - Gillam, Spo, 1:06; Gervais, TC, 3:31; Schutz, Spo, 6:20; Boikov, TC, 10:04; Magarrell, Spo, 12:19; Briskey, TC, 14:00.

Third period - 6, Spokane, Leeb 32 (Hamilton, Hrdina), 5:55 (pp). 7, Spokane, Sinclair 34 (Gillam, Magarell), 11:11. 8, Spokane, Leonov 36, 15:53. Key penalties - Briske, TC, 5:09; Magarrell, Spo, 6:52; Briske, TC, 8:08; Magarrell, Spo, 17:42; Shockey, Spo, high sticking major-game misconduct, 19:43.

Power-play opp. - Tri-City 1 of 9; Spokane 1 of 7.Saves - Tri-City, Baker 11-12-9-32. Spokane, Lemanowicz 8-10-13-31.A - 10,528.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo