Chiefs lack Silvertips’ golden touch

It’s a good thing this one wasn’t on TV.

The Spokane Chiefs, who will make their cable debut on Saturday night, weren’t ready for prime time on Wednesday as they fell to the Everett Silvertips 5-2 in a key Western Hockey League game before an Arena crowd of 3,418.

In a game that presented the Chiefs (7-8, 14 points) with an opportunity to gain two points on the leaders of the U.S. Division, Spokane came out flat and fell behind the Silvertips (12-4, 24 points) by double digits in points. John Lammers and Shaun Heshka scored twice apiece for Everett.

“We were flat, very unprepared to play – an embarrassing effort,” Chiefs coach Bill Peters said, just beginning to describe his team’s effort on this night:

“Our older guys were awful tonight. They didn’t get the job done. We didn’t get a save to start the game. Jeff Lynch turns the puck over on the second goal – you’re two goals down and you’re behind the eight ball. You can’t start games that way in this league.”

The Chiefs came out of the gate like a badly stumbling horse, thanks in large part to the poor play of starting goaltender Jim Watt. Watt gave up two goals on the first three Everett shots and four goals on the first 10 shots.

“I think everybody came out flat. It’s too bad because we really needed those two points,” said Watt. “I take full responsibility for a lot of the loss. If we’re down, I’ve got to be there – and I wasn’t tonight.”

The first goal came just 6 minutes, 33 seconds into the game, as Lammers converted on a pass from Brady Calla when the Chiefs got caught in a line change at an inopportune moment. The Silvertips made it 2-0 at the 9:02 mark when Lammers got his second goal of the game and 12th of the season. Spokane was down, but not out.

The Chiefs responded at the 10:55 mark of the period when Chad Klassen got his team-leading seventh goal of the season, on an assist from Adam Hobson. Hobson came up the ice along the right boards, drove to the net and put a shot on net that generated a rebound on the weak side for Klassen, who backhanded it into the net.

Everett tacked two goals onto its lead before the end of the period. Heshka got his first goal at the 16:11 mark of the period on a shot from the point which blew past Watt.

The next goal came just 2:30 later, when Michael Wuchterl made it 4-1 on just 10 shots on goal. The period ended that way, with Spokane outshooting Everett.

The Chiefs gave themselves some hope on Derek Ryan’s sixth goal of the season, at 15:32 of the second, with Hobson again getting in on the action. He put an initial shot on net whose rebound was buried by Ryan, the team’s second-leading scorer.

That was the last gasp for Spokane, though. The teams skated out the rest of the period. Everett tacked on its fifth goal, the second by Heshka, at the 3:52 mark of the third.

Afterward, a consensus was reached by several Chiefs players on exactly what happened during the game.

“We had our times when we worked hard, but we had our mental breakdowns – especially on the defensive end – where they capitalized. It showed on the score,” said Hobson.

Ryan and Hobson, in particular, continued to work hard to try and generate opportunities. But at every turn, Everett goalie Leland Irving was there. He finished with 36 saves.

“I think we came out flat, out of the gate, so I think that hurt us a lot. … We were just playing good enough not to lose (in the first), not good enough to win in the second and the third period,” Ryan said.

The Chiefs must find a way to bounce back against Portland, which visits the Arena on Friday night.

“It’s the biggest game of the year,” said Ryan. “They’re chasing us, just one point behind us. It’s basically a must win for us.”

Notes

After the game, the Chiefs announced that they had traded forward Mike Reich to the Calgary Hitmen for defenseman Justin Falk. Falk, 17, is a 6-foot-5, 205-pounder who has played in nine WHL games. … The Lethbridge Hurricanes fired general manager Darren Stocker and head coach Lindsay Hofford with the team struggling to a 7-7-0-2 record through the first 16 games of the WHL season.

Silvertips 5, Chiefs 2

First Period — 1, Everett, Lammers 11 (Calla, Fransoo), 6:33. 2, Spokane, Klassen 7 (Hobson, Bowman), 10:55. 3, Everett, Lammers 12, 9:02. 4, Everett, Heshka 3, 16:11 (pp). 5, Everett, Wuchterl (Calla, Kress), 18:41. Second Period—6, Spokane, Ryan 6 (Hobson, Logan), 15:32. Third Period— 7, Everett, Heshka 4, 3:52.

Power-play Opp.—Everett 1 of 5; Spokane 0 of 3. Saves—Everett, Irving (W, 11-4-0-0) 14-15-7—36. Spokane, Watt (L, 6-8-0-0) 6-8-5—19. A—3,418.