Spokane takes Giant step
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Vancouver Giants checked on Friday night, and since nobody looks prepared to fold, the Spokane Chiefs raised.
David Rutherford had a goal and two assists and netminder Dustin Tokarski stopped 22 shots as the Chiefs regained the lead in their Western Conference semifinal series with a 4-0 win over the Giants on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 8,049. Spokane is one win away from knocking off the defending Memorial Cup champions with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 Western Hockey League playoff series.
“Hell of a way to bounce back, I’ll tell you that,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “With a shutout effort in Game 5 – which is a pivotal game – it allowed us to go home and they face elimination, so you couldn’t have scripted it any better.
“Nobody is going to fold – it’s going to be even tougher now. That fourth win in a series is always the toughest one to get.”
The Chiefs (7-2 in playoffs), who were the last team to shut out the Giants at Pacific Coliseum on Oct. 21, have home ice in Game 6 as the clubs resume play at the Arena on Monday night. If Vancouver (6-3) wins on Monday, a seventh game will be played Tuesday at the Arena.
The winner of the series will face the Tri-City Americans in the Western Conference final.
“We’d like to close it out next game,” said Rutherford, who has five goals and six assists in nine playoff games. “I don’t think anyone here is thinking we’re just moving on to the next round. We know it’s far from over.”
Peters shuffled his lines in a successful effort to create a spark for Spokane. Judd Blackwater, Justin McCrae and Chris Bruton skated together on the top line, Drayson Bowman, Ondrej Roman and Rutherford made up the second line and Tyler Johnson centered the third line with Levko Koper and Mitch Wahl at wing.
Ryan Letts made his playoff debut in a Chiefs sweater, replacing a healthy Dustin Donaghy in the lineup and playing alongside Seth Compton and Curtis Kelner on Spokane’s fourth line, though their shifts were limited.
“It grows a little stale when you don’t shuffle the deck a little bit,” said Peters. “I thought the guys responded. I think we’ve gotten solid play out of most of our guys. When you do change the lines, some people think it’s an act of desperation. … I just think it’s good to change things up.”
As it turned out, the Chiefs did enough on their first two shots to win. The all-important odd-man rush allowed Spokane to take a 2-0 lead less than 6 minutes into the game.
On a 3-on-2 rush, Roman – who assisted on both goals in the opening period – passed from the point to Rutherford in the right circle. Rutherford delivered the puck to Justin Falk, who buried it from the slot 1:45 into the game.
Roman and Rutherford broke away for a 2-on-1 rush soon after and Rutherford netted a top-shelf goal over the left shoulder of Giants goalie Tyson Sexsmith at 5:50.
After a scoreless second, the Chiefs added two goals in the third period.
Falk slapped in a shot from the top of the left circle and Bowman lifted in the rebound to give Spokane a 3-0 lead at 15:53. Tyler Johnson added a short-handed, empty-net goal at 18:44.
Ice chips
Spokane was 0 for 4 on the power play and 5 for 5 on the penalty kill. … The Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes will face each other in the Eastern Conference final after the Hitmen wrapped up their East semifinal series with the Swift Current Broncos with an 8-4 victory for a 4-2 series win.