Chiefs’ streak ends
The Vancouver Giants bounced back in a big way.
Vancouver goalie Tyson Sexsmith, a 2007 San Jose draft pick, stopped 25 shots and Mario Bliznak scored in regulation and the shootout, as the Giants successfully ended the Chiefs’ winning streak at nine games with a 2-1 victory in front of 8,072 fans on Saturday night at the Arena.
It was the kind of Western Hockey League game both teams expected: physical, aggressive, back-and-forth hockey between two of the Western Conference’s top teams. It was also the kind of game they had already played, when the Spokane Chiefs shut out the Giants 2-0 in Vancouver on Oct. 21.
It swung the other way on Saturday night.
Sexsmith wasn’t scheduled to start, but because of an 8-2 loss toTri-City on Friday, Vancouver coach Scott Bonner wanted to see how Sexsmith would respond to the challenge.
“We had a bad performance against Prince George and then another bad one last night against Tri-City,” Sexsmith said. “We came in here against Spokane, and they’re a good team that was on a nine-game winning streak, we wanted to end their streak of winning and our streak of losing.”
Both teams played stellar defense, and both teams struggled to generate offense.
After a scoreless first, Vancouver’s Mike Reich was called for a high-sticking penalty that gave the Chiefs their third power play of the game. Chiefs captain Chris Bruton received Drayson Bowman’s face-off pass and popped the puck in to put Spokane on the board at 3 minutes, 46 seconds.
The Chiefs allowed the Giants (12-4-1-2, 27 points) eight shots in the first two periods, but gave up the game-tying goal early in the third when Bliznak picked up a rebound on the left side and slotted it into the upper right corner past Spokane goalie Kevin Armstrong. Armstrong had won his previous six starts, including the shutout in Vancouver.
“Pretty frustrating,” Bruton said. “You’ve got to give their goaltender a big pat on the back – he played a heck of a game. We had some good chances, we hit three posts all together, and he came up big in the shootout and that was the difference.”
Spokane (12-2-1-2, 27 points) is in sole possession of first place in the U.S. Division after the Americans (13-5-0-0, 26 points) fell 6-4 to Seattle on Friday.
The Chiefs wrap up their three-game weekend schedule today at Seattle. Dustin Tokarski earned shutout wins in the Chiefs’ previous two meeting with the Thunderbirds.
“It hurts, we’re used to winning, and this was kind of a stick in the side,” Bruton said. “But we’re going to get our head right, and try to get five out of six points this weekend.”
“The streak is gone, and now it’s time to get back on track and start a new one.”