Spokane downs Portland

A week of rest, and upon return, little relaxation.

Jared Spurgeon scored a goal and added three assists, Mitch Wahl scored a pair of goals and added two helpers and Chiefs captain Chris Bruton finished with three points – a goal and two assists – as Spokane skated to a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Portland Winter Hawks in front of a larger-than-usual Wednesday night crowd of 4,660 at the Arena.

The victory pulled the Chiefs (45-14-1-5, 96 points) within two points of the Tri-City Americans, who fell 5-2 to Everett on Tuesday night, for the U.S. Division and Western Conference lead. The B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants (45-14-2-6), who have played two more games than Spokane, are also tied for the conference lead with 98 points after defeating Kelowna 4-1.

Spokane has one game in hand over the Americans (47-15-2-2, 98 points) heading into Friday night’s showdown at the Arena.

“These are the games you dream of,” Bruton said. “It sets up just perfectly when we have the chance to get back on top – being tied with a game in hand.

“Leading into this weekend, it’s as good as it can be.”

After their first two shots of the game, the Chiefs had a 2-0 lead.

Spurgeon fired a bullet in from the blue line that found its way past Portland goalie Jordan White 1 minute and 29 seconds into the game and Wahl, who has four goals and six assists in his last seven games, scored his first of the night 18 seconds later.

The Winter Hawks (9-54-2-1) replaced White with Kurtis Mucha between the posts and neither team scored for the remainder of the period.

“I thought we got better every period,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “We were a little sluggish in the beginning, but I thought we shrugged it off.”

After Portland killed three Spokane power plays by the middle of the second – two in the first and one early in the second – the Chiefs finally converted when Bruton banged in a rebound past Mucha in the crease.

Travis Bobbee scored the Winter Hawks’ lone goal of the night 24 seconds into the third on a carryover of a second-period power play – the result of a Wahl tripping penalty – but Wahl scored his second of the night at 6:20 and Justin McCrae added an insurance goal at 7:56 as Spokane handed the struggling Winter Hawks their 21st straight loss.

“This team’s played hard, I give them a lot of credit,” Peters said of Portland’s effort. “They compete and they’ve done a good job doing that all year.

“(In their last four games) they went into Vancouver and lost a one-goal game, went in to Everett and lost in overtime, so they’ve had some bad luck and been snake-bitten with injuries, but I give them a lot of credit for their battle level.”

His workload kept relatively light, goalie Kevin Armstrong stopped 23 shots between the posts for Spokane to improve to 18-5-1-2.

Ice chips

Chiefs leading scorer Drayson Bowman had two assists. Ryan Letts and Jared Cowen assisted on McCrae’s goal. … Forwards Dustin Donaghy and Curtis Kelner were scratched from the lineup because of flu-like symptoms.