Despite Cisar, Chiefs Fall Again He’s Scored Spokane’s Last Five Goals; Two Monday Can’t Prevent Loss At Kamloops

When the Spokane Chiefs sat down for their Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinner Monday night, they gave thanks for Marian Cisar.

Cisar? He just asked for some help.

So did coach Mike Babcock.

With Cisar providing their only offense for a second straight game, the Chiefs absorbed a second straight 3-2 Western Hockey League defeat, this one to the Kamloops Blazers in Riverside Coliseum on Monday afternoon.

Cisar, who scored 31 goals all of last season, has 10 in the first seven games of this season - in fact, 10 in the last six games. He’s scored the Chiefs’ last five goals over a three-game span.

Spokane unloaded 45 shots on the Kamloops goal, but Cisar was the only Chief to get a puck past Blaziers’ goalie Randy Petruk. He kicked out 18 in a scoreless third period as Spokane outshot the Blazers 18-7 the final 20 minutes.

The first period was nearly scoreless, too. Wade Burt broke the deadlock just 19 seconds before intermission when he finished off a 2-on-1 break.

The rest of the scoring was packed into the second period with Cisar scoring on Chiefs’ power plays 10 minutes apart to get Spokane ties at 1-1 and 2-2. His first at 4:43 was from the high slot. On the second, at 14:44, he was stationed by the left goal post when he snapped in a rebound of a Brad Ference blast from the left point.

Steve Gainey gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead at 13:37 when he redirected a shot past Spokane goalie Aren Miller. Steve Shrum got the winner at 16:21, finishing off a 2-on-1 break for his fifth goal.

It was the first game of a four-game road trip for the Chiefs (4-3). They’re in Calgary on Wednesday night. Kamloops is 5-4 after its fourth straight win.

, DataTimes