Chiefs Fail To Get Offensive Late Goal Can’T Prevent Third Consecutive Loss

Lynn Loyns was still in battle dress, long after the Spokane Chiefs had lost their third straight for the first time all season.

Loyns’ third-period goal - the Chiefs’ first in 155 minutes of hockey - was a case of too little, too late.

And the players knew it. After the coaches had their say in the wake of Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to the sizzling Swift Current Broncos, the Chiefs met among themselves, behind closed doors.

They talked about working harder, about taking care of the little things, about sloppiness.

But maybe they shouldn’t be too hard on themselves. They kept the league’s No. 2 and No. 4 scorers - Layne Ulmer and Duncan Milroy - off the scoresheet.

They ran into a hot goalteder, B.J. Boxma. And they took the second-best team in the WHL, the leaders of the Western Hockey League East, to the final seconds. But after the Broncos won their sixth straight to improve to 21-9-5, the Chiefs were sharply critical of themselves.

“We’ve scored two goals in three games,” coach Perry Ganchar said. “So your goaltender has to have a shutout every night? We’re just not giving ourselves a chance to win.

“We know that some teams are looking ahead to the Christmas break.

We’ve lost three in a row. We have two games against divisional opponents left before the break. We’ve got to come out, compete and show that we’re not one of those teams that are going to shut her down early.”

The Broncos let a 2-0 lead slip away in a 4-3 loss to Spokane last month. This time, up 2-0, they closed the deal.

“We had some chances to go up 3-0 but (Tyler) MacKay made some big saves and they came back with their goal to make it interesting down the stretch,” Swift Current coach Brad McEwen said. “But we denied them space. They skate well. In the game in Swift Current they had too much room, and they can create when you give them that.

“We did a good job in the neutral zone, neutralizing some of the things they do.”

Swift Current did it short-handed. Playing their first of five games through the West, the Broncos are without Vancouver Canucks draft choice Nathan Smith and defenseman Jakub Cutta, a Washington Capitals pick, who are with World Junior teams.

Smith is a late replacement with Team Canada. Cutta has joined the Czech Republic team for junior hockey’s international holiday showcase in Russia.

Still, the Broncos were all over the Chiefs, outshooting them 41-26, beating them to the puck and giving them almost no room to operate before 4,167 fans.

Spokane was about to be shut out for the second time in as many games when Loyns scored on the rebound with 5:25 left. That broke a scoring drought going back to Friday night’s second period in Seattle, three games ago.

Clearly, his 13th goal and 26th point in 26 games was of no solace to Loyns.

“We talked about what we have to do to be better,” Loyns said. “We’re tightening everything up with fines, right down to the little things. Being on time. Observing the dress code. We’ve been a little bit sloppy, letting guys getting away with things. If we establish the little things, we can get back on track.”

MacKay kept his team close by stopping 39 Swift Current shots.

Only former Kamloops Blazer Paul Deniset and Scott Henkelman beat him, Henkleman at the end of a 2-on-1 situation in the second period, with the goaltender helpless.

Goaltender B.J. Boxma made 25 saves for the Broncos.

“He was my player of the game,” McEwen said.

The Chiefs said so long to Roman Tvrdon until mid-January. Tvrdon will play for Team Slovakia in the World Juniors in Russia after Christmas. His absence will make it even tougher for Spokane to get on the scoreboard.

Broncos 2, Chiefs 1

Swift Current 0 1 1 - 2

Spokane 0 0 1 - 1

First period-None. Key penalties-Ulmer, SC, 8:13; Tvrdon, Spo, 9:25; Heid, Spo, 12:29; Sauer, Spo, 19:39.

Second period-1, Swift Current, Henkelman 13 (Deniset) 14:13. Key penalties-Smith, Spo, 7:13; Sommerfeld, SC, 10:05; Desautels, Spo, misconduct, 10:05; Thorpe, Spo, 15:06.

Third period-2, Swift Current, Deniset 5 (Hiebert, Henkelman) 5:43. 3, Spokane, Loyns 13 (Tvrdon, Smith) 14:35. Key penalties- None.

Power play opportunities-Swift Current 0 of 5; Spokane 0 of 2. Saves-Swift Current, Boxma 4-10-11-26. Spokane, MacKay 15-8-16-39. A-4,167