Fatigued Chiefs lose to Thunderbirds in overtime

The Seattle Thunderbirds played like a desperate team and, on this night, that was the difference.

The Thunderbirds came into Sunday night’s Western Hockey League game at the Arena with the Spokane Chiefs in last place in the U.S. Division, two points behind Spokane and Tri-City and 2-8 over their past 10 games. They left feeling a lot better about themselves.

Seattle’s Chris Durand converted a 2-on-1 breakaway opportunity just 1 minute, 13 seconds into overtime to give his team a 4-3 win over Spokane.

The result tightened the U.S. Division standings, as Seattle (17-19-1-3, 38 points) moved into a third-place tie with Spokane (17-19-4-0, 38). Both teams moved ahead of idle Tri-City (16-19-3-2, 37 points).

Durand took a puck that was whiffed on by Drayson Bowman at the Spokane blue line and moved up along the boards as a teammate drove up the right wing. Rookie defenseman Jared Spurgeon played it by the book, cutting off the passing lane, and Durand let a shot fly that got past Spokane goalie Thomas Stehr for the game-winner.

The game was the third overtime contest in as many nights for Spokane, which also put itself on the penalty kill 10 times. The physical and mental fatigue put Spokane at a severe disadvantage.

“We’re making the game way harder on ourselves than it needs to be,” coach Bill Peters said.

Still, there was a silver lining to the long weekend that saw Spokane sandwich overtime losses around Saturday night’s shootout win.

“Four out of six (points) isn’t bad,” Spokane’s Chad Klassen said.

The Chiefs reversed a bad habit of getting behind early, jumping to a 2-0 lead with goals a minute apart in the first 8 minutes, 45 seconds of the game.

Spokane got on the board at the 7:45 mark of the first when former T-Bird David Linsley banged in a rebound goal past Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges.

The Chiefs would extend their lead to 2-0 on an ensuing power play when Spurgeon took a feed from Derek Ryan in the right slot for his first WHL goal.

Seattle would cut the advantage to 2-1, at the 15:29 mark, when captain Aaron Gagnon got behind the Spokane defense and around the net for a wrap-around goal on Stehr for the first of his two goals.

That’s the way the period would finish and it would stay that way through a scoreless second period, a span during which Spokane had to kill off a seven-minute power play assessed when Myles Stoesz and Benn Olson fought for the second time in the game. Olson was deemed the instigator and both players were given fighting major penalties, but Stoesz was also given a boarding major, a double-minor for head-butting, and a game misconduct.

Seattle would come back to tie the game at 2 just 1:41 into the final period, on Gagnon’s second goal, in which he beat Stehr top-shelf, glove side.

But Spokane would take back the lead on its second power-play goal of the game. Johannes Salmonsson went unassisted off the face-off just 3 seconds after Seattle was whistled for a penalty at the 5:00 mark. Salmonsson just returned to the team this weekend after playing for Team Sweden at the World Junior (U-17) Championship tournament in Canada.

Seattle would come back once more, tying the game at 3 at the 15:40 mark of the third, when Roman Tomanek banged in a rebound goal on a third shot after Stehr had stopped the first two. Spokane would get a power-play opportunity for the last 1:19 of regulation, but failed to convert and the game went into overtime. The penalty carried over into overtime but Spokane was again unable to take advantage before Durand’s goal.

Now, the players and Chiefs fans will wait and see if the team makes a roster move before Tuesday’s trading deadline.

Ice chips

Chiefs defenseman Joe Logan missed the game after being assessed a one-game suspension by the league for a hit in Saturday night’s game. … Chiefs captain Jeff Lynch was back in the lineup for his third straight game after missing a month due to a knee injury. … The Chiefs welcomed back trainer Darcy Bishop, who was on the staff for the gold-winning Canadian team at the World Juniors. … The Chiefs suited up 15-year-olds Chris Langkow and Michael Reddington as part of their five-game tryouts over the weekend. In the WHL, 15-year-olds are allowed to play only five regular-season games before they can be called up at the conclusion of their junior team’s season. … Newcomer Brad Erickson had a successful weekend after being acquired late last week. He scored in his first game and had an assist on Saturday night and immediately made his way onto special teams.