Whitfield Hands Chiefs A Win

Trent Whitfield wouldn’t let the Spokane Chiefs lose Friday night in front of 6,909 in the Rose Garden.

Whitfield had a hand in every one of the Spokane Chiefs’ season-high five goals in a 5-4 Western Hockey League win over the Portland Winter Hawks.

The Chiefs (6-3) started and ended with a flurry, taking a 2-0 lead in the first 2:22 on goals by Greg Leeb and Whitfield, then beating Portland for the first time in three tries with a third-period spurt.

The Chiefs return home tonight to play host to the Tri-City Americans at 7. They hop the bus after the game for a Sunday night game in Kamloops to complete a stretch of three games in as many nights. The Winter Hawks (7-3) tied Friday night’s game at 2-2 before Whitfield notched his second goal of the period.

Whitfield split the defense, took a feed from Ty Jones in the high slot and sent the puck between the pads of Portland goaltender Chris Wickenheiser.

The Hawks tied it at 3 with the lone goal of the second period - Brenden Morow’s seventh of the year - but the Chiefs went back up 4-3 at 5:51 of the third on Leeb’s blast from the left circle with the Chiefs on the power play.

Spokane had the extra attacker after Portland’s Kevin Popp was sent off for instigating - the type of costly penalty the Chiefs took Wednesday night in a 4-1 loss to the Hawks in Spokane.

But the Chiefs would need more than Leeb’s second goal of the night and fourth of the year to get out of the third period and win their fourth game in five tries on the road.

A Winter Hawks turnover led to a Whitfield shot, a Wickenheiser rejection and the rebound that Marian Cisar turned into a goal at 7:12 of the third.

Cisar, who had a key stick save down the stretch on the Chiefs’ penalty-killing unit, scored on the rebound to make it 5-3.

That was the game-winner.

, DataTimes