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It would seem that the Spokane Chiefs don’t read the newspaper.

They didn’t play like a team which has been reading its press clippings – or that of the preseason U.S. Division favorite, the Everett Silvertips – as they played inspired hockey which frustrated a talented team on Friday night.

The Chiefs, with a strong effort in net by Kevin Armstrong, posted their second win in eight days over Everett, 5-2 in Western Hockey League play at the Spokane Arena.

Armstrong bounced back from a tough game against Tri-City last weekend to earn the win by making 25 saves, including some strong ones with the glove, as his defense played well in front of him for the majority of the game.

“It felt good to make a lot of saves, but the guys were blocking a lot of shots for me, doing everything they could, and I think that helped me a lot,” said Armstrong, who was congratulated by his teammates on the ice. “It got me a lot more confident knowing that they were there for me and I was there for them.”

Spokane (3-2-1-0, 7 points) overcame a long 5-on-3 disadvantage which carried over from the final minutes of the first period and into the second, during which Everett scored to break a 1-1 tie. The Chiefs bounced back with two WHL career-first goals, both on the power play, in the second period against Everett (5-0-0-1, 11), and a hat trick from Michael Grabner.

Grabner scored his final point into an empty net with 17 seconds left, as he put in a wrist shot from the blue line. The goal came just seconds after he missed a close-in chance at an empty net with a defender on him.

“It’s always nice to get some goals and a big win, too,” said Grabner, who has six goals in five games since returning from the Vancouver Canucks camp. “That’s what I’m supposed to do here and that’s what I have to do to help my team here.”

Rookie defenseman Mike Reddington tied the game at 2 with a one-timer from the point at the 14:40 mark of the second period on a pass from Justin Falk. A little more than 4 minutes later, rookie forward Chris Langkow’s tap-in of an Adam Hobson shot at the 16:47 mark gave the Chiefs a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

“They’re good players,” said Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters of the rookies. “They’re skilled guys – we really like them a lot – and we need to make sure we get them ice time when we get the chance and they’ll continue to develop into very good players for us.”

The Chiefs didn’t look back after the goals and Grabner gave the team its final margin with two third-period goals. His unassisted goal at the 13:12 mark came after he stole the puck at center ice and created a breakaway opportunity for himself.

Spokane had taken the initial lead in the game with 10 minutes of inspired hockey to start the game.

The Chiefs outshot the Silvertips 10-1 over that time. Grabner’s goal at the 7:30 mark of the first gave Spokane a 1-0 lead. Everett tied the game on Peter Mueller’s power-play goal at the 18:01 mark during the 5-on-3 situation. That’s the way the period ended and Spokane limited the damage to just the one goal during the penalty kill.

Moses Gutierrez had Everett’s other goal, redirecting a Mueller shot from the high slot at the 3:11 mark of the second to give Everett its 2-1 lead.

Chiefs 5, Silvertips 2

First period

1. Spo, Grabner 4 (Courchene) 7:30. 2. Evt, Hamill 3 (Mueller) 18:01 (pp)

Second Period

3. Evt, Gutierrez 2 (Mueller) 3:11. 4. Spo, Reddington 1 (Falk, Roman) 14:40 (pp). 5. Spo, Langkow 1 (Hobson,Reddington) 16:47 (pp)

Third period

6. Spo, Grabner 5 13:12. 7. Spo, Grabner 6 (Zimmerman, Armstrong) 19:43 (en).

Shots on goal by

Everett 12 6 9 – 27

Spokane 11 12 14 – 37

Power-play Opp.—Everett 1 of 6; Spokane 2 of 8. Saves—Everett, Irving 32 saves. Spokane, Armstrong 25 saves. A—4,934.