Whitfield Dons Hat As Chiefs Come Back Third-Period Outburst Earns Spokane 3-1 Win Over Tough-To-Catch Cougars

It doesn’t seem to matter who shows up, or who doesn’t. The Spokane Chiefs are still kings of late-night hockey.

Playing without seven players who were finishing up international commitments Friday night, down a goal after two periods, the Chiefs rallied behind Trent Whitfield’s hat trick to hand the Prince George Cougars their first loss when they led after 40 minutes.

The short-handed Chiefs beat the Cougs 3-1 to give coach Mike Babcock his 199th Western Hockey League win.

It came in Aren Miller’s club-record 113th game in goal. Miller turned aside 34 of 35 shots before 8,129 in the Arena to help the Chiefs win for the fourth time when they trail after two periods.

“Millsy sparked us,” said Whitfield, who needs 10 more goals to become the first player in Chiefs’ history to score 30 or more in three straight seasons. “Early on we knew he had to step it up. We got better in the second period and better yet in the third, with a lot of different contributions.”

Spokane is an impressive 4-8-3 when forced to come from behind in the third period. Prince George, by contrast, is 1-13-1 when they trail after two.

The Cougars - 20-1 in games they’ve led after two periods - felt the sting in the Chiefs’ comeback.

“It was real tough,” Prince George defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski said. “Any time you get beat in the third period it’s tough to take. We fell asleep at the start of the third period and once the crowd got into it they took it to us.”

The Chiefs (26-11-3) put some distance between themselves and the Cougs in the race for second in the WHL West. Prince George (23-15-2) fell seven points behind Spokane heading into tonight’s play. The Cougars are in Portland. The Chiefs are back in the Arena against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

It appeared Miller’s effort would go unrewarded when, with 9 seconds left in the second period, the Chiefs gave up the worst kind of goal. Prince George’s Quinn Hancock stepped in front of a Derek Schutz pass from the point of the Chiefs’ power play, skated in on Miller and snapped a shot inside the left post.

Hancock’s 31st goal of the season, and his second of the year against the opposition’s power play, came with Spokane’s Perry Johnson on his back and the Chiefs’ Dan Vandermeer in front of him.

But Whitfield struck just 22 seconds into the third period with Spokane on the power play. His change-of-pace redirection found its way through goaltender Kevin Swanson’s pads. Greg Leeb’s assist was his team-high 52nd point.

Whitfield’s game-winner came 4 minutes later when the Chiefs center picked off Jarrett Smith’s up-the-gut clearing pass in the right circle and scored unassisted. Whitfield notched his third with Garry Toor draped all over him.

Sliding to the ice, Whitfield hit the back of an empty net with a swipe of the stick after the Cougars had yanked their goaltender for an extra attacker.

Babcock termed the win “real gutsy.”

“It could have been a momentum-changer, that goal they got at the end of the second,” he said. “It was a good goal, a good shot, the guy makes the play, but we got a contribution from everyone.

“Lynn Loyns as our third-line center did a great job. Justin Ossachuk had a great game. (Josh) Maser finished some checks and was involved in that second goal by getting there on the forecheck. When you’re short-staffed you need everybody.”

The Chiefs are without four players who appeared in the World Junior Tournament in Helsinki - defensemen Brad Ference and Zenith Komarniski and forwards Ty Jones and Marian Cisar. Three rookies - Brandin Cote, Cole Fischer and Mark Forth - were excused for the World Under-17 Championships in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Box score /C5

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Coming up Spokane will play host to Seattle tonight in the Arena at 7:05.