Lukacevic good to his word

At the beginning of the 5-minute overtime against Kelowna, Spokane’s Ned Lukacevic pointed at Rockets goaltender Kristofer Westblom and said, “I’m going to score on you.”

Well, just 4 minutes, 4 seconds later, Lukacevic did just that and delivered a huge 5-4 victory for the Spokane Chiefs in a Western Hockey League game before 6,005 at the Spokane Arena on Wednesday night.

Lukacevic’s goal gave Spokane (12-17-7-1, 32 points) its first win against Kelowna (21-9-9, 51) in its last 20 meetings with the defending Memorial Cup champions.

More importantly, the win ended a two-game losing streak and helped the Chiefs to gain two points on fourth-place Tri-City in the U.S. Division. Spokane next travels to play against the Americans on Friday night at Kennewick in their annual New Year’s Eve matchup.

It was a game of firsts: Spokane goaltender Kevin Opsahl overcame a rough start to earn his first win as a Chief while making 34 saves; and part-time Brave/part-time Chief Seth Compton got his first WHL goal.

But it was the manner in which the team rallied for the win that pleased the Chiefs’ coach, Al Conroy.

“The way the guys came back – and never gave up – was huge for this team,” said Conroy. “They know they need to step it up for the second half of the season and this is a good start.”

Lukacevic echoed those sentiments about his personal goals, stating: “I know I need to have a strong second half of the season. I worked hard and wanted to make something happen.”

His goal was hotly disputed by the Rockets, as it came off a play where Lukacevic started the play at mid-ice, took out a defender and got the puck back with a big hit in the corner, then put the puck on net. After it was kicked out by Westblom, Lukacevic directed it right back to him with his right skate.

The Chiefs fell behind 4-1 before rallying for two second-period goals to enter the final period just a goal down, at 4-3.

Kelowna had gotten two of its goals on power plays and one off a play of the puck by Spokane that ended up in an own goal.

Kelowna jumped to a 2-0 lead after 14 minutes, 18 seconds on power-play goals by Justin Keller and Tyler Spurgeon.

Spokane would stay in the game when Kyle Howarth scored at 15:23 on a backhanded rebound effort while a player from each team was down in the Kelowna goal.

The Rockets made it 3-1 at the 16:16 mark when Troy Bodie put one between the legs of Opsahl. Keller would get credited for his second goal of the game, at 5:25 of the second, to make it 4-1 on a puck which Opsahl played off a defenseman and it bounced back past him.

The Chiefs wouldn’t be left for dead, however, and just 11 seconds later got a goal from Compton. It was the first career WHL goal for the West Richland, Wash., product.

Adam Hobson would give the crowd life, and the Chiefs hope, with his seventh goal of the season as the second period wound down at 17:33.

Spokane would come out with jump in its step for the final period.

Chiefs captain Jevon Desautels completed the comeback to even with his ninth goal of the season at 13:05, igniting the crowd.

Chiefs 5, Rockets 4 (OT)

First period–1 Kel, Keller 14 (Spurgeon, Cumiskey) 8:01 (pp); 2, Kel, Spurgeon 10 (Card, Bodie) 14:18 (pp); 3, Spo, Howarth 5 (Engman, Compton) 15:23; 4, Kel, Bodie (Spurgeon, Keller) 16:16. Key penalties - Engman, Spo (elbowing) 7:12; Howarth (checking from behind) 13:51.

Second period– 5, Kel, Keller 15 (Card) 5:25; 6, Spo, Compton 1 (Logan, Howarth) 5:36; 7, Spo, Hobson 7 (Ryan) 17:33.

Third period– 8, Spo, Desautels 8 (Bruton) 13:05.

Overtime– 9, Spo, Lukacevic 13 (Hobson) 4:04.

Power-play Opportunities–Kelowna 2 of 5; Spokane 0 of 6. Saves–Kel, Westblom 11-11-5-1-29. Spokane, Opsahl 11-7-14–2-34. A–6,005.