Spokane Chiefs lose in overtime

The Thunderbirds were just getting ready to yank their goaltender Friday night when the Spokane Chiefs gave Seattle even more of an advantage.

The Thunderbirds used a late Chiefs penalty to tie the game in regulation and Jared Hauf scored 1 minute, 20 seconds into overtime for a 2-1 Western Hockey League win at the Arena.

Goalie Taran Kozun was prepared to exit the ice and give Seattle a last-ditch effort on a power play when the Chiefs’ Keanu Yamamoto was whistled for tripping at 17:08. Seattle still took Kozun off the ice and, with a 6-4 advantage, Thunderbirds scoring leader Mathew Barzal (eight points) notched the power-play equalizer 50 seconds later, ruining what could have been Garret Hughson’s third career shutout as Chiefs goalie.

“We don’t need to take a penalty with 2½ minutes left in the game and it cost us,” Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said. “We couldn’t polish off the penalty kill. If we’d done that, we wouldn’t be talking about an overtime.”

The Chiefs failed to clear the puck out of their zone early in overtime, allowing Hauf to knock in the winner.

The Chiefs (2-1-2-0) lost their third consecutive game, two in overtime. Seattle is 3-3-0-0.

The Chiefs and Thunderbirds will also play Tuesday in Kent, Washington, and Wednesday back at the Arena.

Shots were at a premium the entire game, as Spokane finished in single digits for each period and the Thunderbirds didn’t record double digits until a third-period flurry gave them 11 shots. Neither team had a shot through the first 6-plus minutes of the first period and 7-plus minutes of the second.

“For me, you can’t play the game standing still. Anybody who watches that game, our feet are planted,” Nachbaur said. “We didn’t pressure their ‘D’ with any pucks and it was the same on our end. We just glided to pucks. We didn’t want to be first.”

Both teams had chances on 5-on-3 power plays and didn’t cash in – Seattle from late in the first period to early in the second, and Spokane midway through the second.

The Chiefs’ fortunes changed late in the second period, 15 seconds after Riley Whittingham hit the post with a shot. Dominic Zwerger snapped a shot from the slot for a 1-0 lead and his third goal of the season, tying Liam Stewart for the team lead. Whittingham and captain Jason Fram, who picked up his club-leading fifth point, assisted on the goal.

Hughson, who finished with 26 saves, stopped a good Seattle opportunity and rebound early in the third. Neither team had a power-play chance in the period until Yamamoto’s late penalty.

“We spent too much time in our end and it wore us out,” Nachbaur said. “If you look at their overtime goal, our guy makes a mistake. It’s fatigue. … From our standpoint, we didn’t play any time in their end. Our forwards have to be better than that.”

Injury report

Forward Blair Oneschuk returned from a lower-body injury, but the Chiefs are still minus forwards Adam Helewka, upper body, week-to-week; Jacob Cardiff, lower body, week-to-week; Hudson Elynuik, upper body, 1-2 weeks; and Mitch Lipon, upper body, 4-6 weeks. Defenseman Colton Bobyk (lower body) is listed as out for 2-3 weeks.