Chiefs steal opener

Marek Kalus (12), who played one game in the first round of the playoffs, and Brady Brassart (15, celebrating above), who hadn’t played since the first game of the last series, combined for a goal on their first shift, 2:11 into the game,  that kick-started the Spokane Chiefs to a 2-1 win over Portland in the first game of the best of 7 series at the Rose Garden Friday night.

Levko Koper scored a lovely power play goal at 4:25 of the second period - all five Chiefs touched the puck in the 8 seconds after the faceoff - but otherwise it was a dominating defense and James Reid being spectacular in goal.

With that 2-0 lead entering the third period, the Chiefs refused to let up, out-shooting the Winterhawks 17-10  to make it 43-28 for the game. But Portland didn’t fold, but they also didn’t solve Reid, who made 27 saves. The Winterhakws got on board when they pulled goalie Mac Carruth, Ryan Johansen scoring with 24 seconds left.

Game 2 is here Sunday night.

3 stars: 1, James Reid, 2, Mac Carruth, 3, Jared Cowen

Long box below

Spokane 2, Winterhawks 1

Spokane – Friday

First period

1, Spo, Brassart 1 (Kalus) 2:11.

Penalties – Cowen, Spo (slashing) 2:21; Bartschi, Por (high sticking) 4:23.

Second period

2, Spo, Koper 4 (Kuhn, Cowen) 4:25, pp.

Penalties – Gal, Spo (interference) 1:02; Johansen, Por (interference) 4:17; Baldwin, Spo (interference) 6:57; Boychuk, Por (tripping) 12:05; Bardero, Spo (rouging), Aronson, Por (roughing) 12:45.

Third period

3, Por, Johnansen 7 (Cunningham, Niederreiter) 19:36.

Penalties – Pouliot, Por (cross checking) 2:25; Cowen, Spo (roughing), Ross, Por (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:53.

Shots on goal by
Spokane     13-13-17_43

Portland     10-8-10_28

Goal (shots-saves) — Spokane: Reid (W, 9-3-0) 28-27; Portland: Carruth (L, 8-2-1) 43-41.

Power plays (goals-chances) — Spokane 1-4; Portland 0-3.

Referees — Matt Kirk, Steve Papp. Linesmen — Chris Sweeting, Nathan Van Ooosten.

Attendance – 7,642.

Scratches – Spokane: Cole Hamblin, Tyler Johnson, Reid Gow, Mitch Holmberg/Collin Valcourt. Portland: Josh Hanson, Brett Ponich, Chase De Leo, Oliver Gabriel, Pearce Eviston, Taylor Leier, Brendan Burke, Jason Trott.