Chiefs can’t solve Tips
Only 10 regular-season games remain for the Spokane Chiefs.
That number is larger than it seems, though, because if the Chiefs don’t right the ship and finish well, there is a possibility Friday night’s opponent – the Everett Silvertips – will also be the team they meet in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
If the season series at all foreshadows what’s to come, the outcome might not be favorable.
Yet again standing on his head for the Silvertips, Leland Irving made 34 saves to backstop Everett to a 2-1 victory over the Chiefs in front of 9,230 fans at the Arena. The game wrapped up the eight-game season series between the U.S. Division rivals, with the Tips (35-25-0-3) 5-2-0-1 against Spokane (42-14-1-5).
“We didn’t execute very well offensively,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “We had a 4-on-2 and we had a 2-on-1 at the end where we don’t even really get shots off. That’s the difference.
“You’re not going to see too many of those opportunities and then when you don’t generate a scoring chance off those odd-man rushes, you’re not going to score many goals.”
Included in the Chiefs’ missed opportunities was the failure to convert on five power-play chances. Spokane ranks sixth overall in the league on the power play, but it seems to let them down when it’s needed most.
“Tonight there were great looks,” said Peters. “I didn’t think our skill guys – our power-play guys – were hungry enough on it to score.
“There are pucks they can get to that will give them second- or third-shot opportunities, but you’re going to get a slash on the wrist in order to get that puck and we didn’t play hard enough in the offensive zone to get those chances.”
The Tips weren’t great either, but they used a lucky bounce to take an early lead.
Jordan Mistelbacher followed his high shot that banked off the boards and found the puck in the lower right slot before Chiefs netminder Dustin Tokarski did to score 7 minutes, 13 seconds into the first period.
“We got an unlucky bounce, and that’s going to happen in games,” said Chiefs captain Chris Bruton. “Games are tighter now down the stretch, and it was a one-goal game in our arena going into the third and that is an all-right situation to be in with our team, and then we took some stupid penalties – really stupid penalties, and it doesn’t help you to get back into the game when you’re doing that. It takes your momentum away.”
The Tips couldn’t capitalize on three third-period advantages, but Lukas Vartovnik gave them a 2-0 lead at 9:07 with an even-strength goal.
Judd Blackwater, who has four goals and nine points in his last six games, scored a shorthanded goal for Spokane at 18:40 to spoil Irving’s shutout.
“Their last goal is probably one (Tokarski) would like to have back, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” said Bruton. “We got one back but you can’t just come back in the last two minutes and try to win a game, it’s a full 60-minute effort.”
The Chiefs are second in the U.S. Division, two points behind tonight’s opponent, the Tri-City Americans, with 90 points. The teams meet at 7 in the Arena, where the Americans are 4-0 against the Chiefs this season.
Ice chips
Chiefs forward Justin McCrae was scratched from the lineup because of a knee injury from Tuesday’s game against Kelowna. He played through it Wednesday at Everett, saw a doctor Friday and is questionable for tonight’s game. … The Chiefs are ranked third in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll released Wednesday. Tri-City is second, Calgary is fourth and Vancouver is sixth.