Spokane Chiefs lose two-goal lead and game to Victoria

VICTORIA, B.C. – Matthew Phillips notched his 44th goal of the campaign with just over seven minutes to play in regulation and the Victoria Royals made it stand as the game-winner and edged the Spokane Chiefs 4-3 in Western Hockey League action on Friday.

The Chiefs (26-28-6-3, 61 points) are 11 points behind Portland with nine games to play in the chase for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Spokane actually looked good for a while in this one, building a 3-1 lead midway through the second period.

Jaret Anderson-Dolan started the scoring less than five minute into it, potting his 35th of the season with help from Kailer Yamamoto and Hudson Elyniuk.

The Royals evened it with 1 1/2 minutes left in the frame on Jack Walker’s 28th of the year, the first of three power play goals the Chiefs would cough up.

Just under two minutes into the second, Ondrej Najman put the Chiefs up 2-1 with his fifth of the year, and Ethan McIndoe made it 3-1 with just over five minutes in the period on his 17th.

That’s when the Chiefs ran into trouble.

Less than two minutes later, with Hayden Ostir in the box for tripping, Dante Hannoun scored his 22nd of the year to draw Victoria within one.

Hannoun then tied it with one second left in the frame, on yet another power play – this time with Kailer Yamamoto off for high sticking.

Spokane spoiled two power plays in the first half of the third period and then the teams struggled for a bit until Phillips registered the eventual game-winner with 6:06 left in the game.

Jayden Sittler made 28 saves for Spokane and Griffen Outhouse made 26 for Victoria.

The Chiefs play again at Victoria on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.