Chiefs keep pace in tight West race

PORTLAND – Replay this!

Seconds after the Spokane Chiefs had a goal disallowed on review, Kenton Miller snapped a shot past Portland goalie Ian Curtis that was instrumental in a 4-0 Western Hockey League win over the Winterhawks at the Rose Garden on Friday night.

With goalie James Reid collecting his fifth shutout, and second over Portland, the Chiefs won for the 10th time in 12 games to move four points ahead of the Winterhawks for fourth place in the Western Conference.

The top four teams get home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Spokane is six points out of first, four out of third with five games left in the regular season.

“It was a great 60-minute effort by our team,” coach Hardy Sauter said. “Every area was solid for us tonight. Our guys just played hard, period.”

Mitch Wahl, with his 29th goal, and Kyle Beach, with his league-leading 49th, gave Spokane a 2-0 lead in a first period in which the Chiefs outshot the Winterhawks 16-9.

Curtis then stymied the Chiefs until it looked like he may have carried the puck across the goal line in making a save. The officials checked the video and said no.

Miller made sure there was no question on Spokane’s next shot, firing it into the top corner.

Steve Kuhn, Matt Marantz and Dominik Uher combined to ice it with 2:36 to play.