Weak defense? Chiefs beg to differ

The Spokane Chiefs sure aren’t playing like they’re depleted on defense.

They’re not only playing like their blue line is still solid – they’re playing like they want to win a division title, and Friday’s performance kept their hope to do so alive.

Blake Gal scored twice and six other Chiefs scored as Spokane pounded the Portland Winter Hawks with an 8-0 beating in front of 9,907 fans at the Arena.

The Chiefs were playing without three key defenseman – Jared Cowen, who is out for the season with a knee injury; Trevor Glass, who sustained an upper body injury in Wednesday’s game at Kamloops that will keep him out indefinitely; and Stefan Ulmer, who has been out indefinitely with a concussion.

They were depleted enough on the blue line to move forward Dustin Donaghy to defense.

“We kind of pride ourselves in being able to cover it up when guys are out of the lineup,” Chiefs coach Hardy Sauter said. “The guys did a real good job – especially Dustin Donaghy – he played a full game tonight and did a great job.”

Goalie Dustin Tokarski made 32 saves in net for Spokane to improve his record to 31-14-0-2 and earn his franchise-high 15th career shutout in Spokane.

“He wasn’t overly tested, but at the same time he made a lot of good decisions with moving the puck and he put rebounds in safe places for our team,” Sauter said. “Ultimately, I was just real happy with the guys in front of him tonight.”

Sauter had good reason to be pleased with his team’s performance.

The Chiefs dominated the first and second periods, outshooting the Winter Hawks 32-16 in the process of scoring three goals in each period.

Brady Calla put Spokane on the board 8 minutes and 41 seconds into the game when his close-range shot bounced off Portland goalie Ian Curtis’ pad and slowly crept across the goal line. David Conrad scored at 16:22 to increase Spokane’s lead to 2-0 when the puck hit his stick, shot straight up into the air and fell down behind Curtis and into the net.

Gal scored Spokane’s third goal with 20 seconds remaining in the period. After Curtis made an initial save on Steve Kuhn’s shot from the left circle, the puck rebounded directly into the slot, where Gal quickly fired a bullet into the open right side of the net.

The Chiefs didn’t back down in the second period.

With Mike Reddington in the box for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Tyler Johnson stole the puck from Portland captain Travis Ehrhardt in the neutral zone and swiftly took the puck back and scored a shorthanded 1-on-1 goal against Curtis.

The Chiefs finally scored on their fourth power-play opportunity of the night when Levko Koper – who was parked near the right post – knocked in a well-placed pass from Jared Spurgeon at 17:00. Gal scored his second goal of the night when he backhanded in the puck from the slot with 30 seconds remaining in the second.

Spokane added two more goals in the final period – the first coming from Mitch Wahl when Johnson dropped off a short backhand pass in the slot that Wahl promptly buried at 11:49.

Kuhn scored the final goal of the night on a power play at 12:48.

“We’re getting rewarded for the hard work, and it’s nice,” Calla said.

Spokane (41-19-0-3, 85 points) will see if it has enough scoring power left over for tonight’s big showdown at the Arena with the U.S. Division-leading Tri-City Americans (45-16-0-3, 93 points) – which is already sold out. Friday’s win over Portland kept the Chiefs’ division title hopes alive and tonight is definitely another must-win situation.

“Now it’s back again and I think all of the guys have their heads in the right directions, so hopefully the hockey gods can help us out (tonight) with Tri,” Calla said.

Chiefs 8, Winter Hawks 0

First Period—1, Spokane, Calla 13, 8:41. 2, Spokane, Conrad 3 (Johnson, Letts), 16:22. 3, Spokane, Gal 7 (Kuhn, Miller), 19:38. Second Period—4, Spokane, Johnson 23, 9:31 (sh). 5, Spokane, Koper 20 (Spurgeon, Bartman), 17:00 (pp). 6, Spokane, Gal 8 (Kichton, Miller), 19:36. Third Period—7, Spokane, Wahl 27 (Johnson), 11:49. 8, Spokane, Kuhn 9 (Baldwin, Gal), 12:48 (pp).

Power-play Opp.—Portland 0 of 4; Spokane 2 of 6. Saves—Portland, Curtis 14-12-x—26, Mucha x-x-11—11. Spokane, Tokarski 7-9-16—32. A—9,907.