Streak moves Chiefs up the ladder

The Spokane Chiefs’ four-game winning streak has given the team the fifth-best winning percentage in the Western Hockey League. Read story

The Chiefs’ winning percentage has improved to .630 after four consecutive wins gave them a record of 13-7-3-0 one game shy of the one-third mark of the 72-game season. The four teams with better winning percentages — Kelowna, Brandon, Everett and Medicine Hat — were all ranked in the Top 10 in the Canadian Hockey League poll released earlier Wednesday.

Spokane’s offense hasn’t exploded during the streak, but the Chiefs have outscored rivals 10-5 heading in to Saturday’s home game against Lethbridge, which has the league’s second-worst record (6-15-3-1).

Spokane’s line of Adam Helewka, Calder Brooks and Kailer Yamamoto combined for three goals and five assists on Wednesday.

“Just some special play by some guys,” Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said after the win. “Our goalie (Garret Hughson) was really good at the end of the game when we needed it. Kailer, Brooksey, Helewka, that line carried us tonight. There were some huge contributions there. We’ve won recently with four lines playing well, but tonight I can’t say that. I think one line was special and the rest were pretty blah.”

“I think we’re doing a really good job of getting pucks to the net and giving ourselves opportunities,” said Brooks, whose 24 points rank second on the team, six behind Helewka. … “I think our team had a sluggish first period and we kind of had a wake-up called between the first and second periods.”

Hughson made two big saves with 1:36 left to preserve a 3-2 lead that grew when Brooks added an empty-net goal.

“I think we’re just sticking to fundamentals,” Hughson said. “It got away from us in the third, but we rallied and stuck together.”

“(Victoria) had, for me, two easy goals,” Nachbaur said. “But we battled, we competed and we got the results. … I think I’d like to see more consistency from everybody. I think we … dodged some bullets late in the game.”