Spokane Chiefs lose in overtime for second straight night
The Spokane Chiefs had a lot going against them Sunday night.
They were on the second leg of back-to-back games and sent a shorthanded lineup onto Spokane Arena ice, dressing 11 forwards, one short of a normal lineup.
They played one of their best games offensively of the young season but still came up short, losing 5-4 in overtime to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Seattle’s Conner Roulette scored with 13 seconds left in the extra frame to keep Spokane winless in seven starts.
“The guys battled hard and it was a tough game. We played (at Tri-City) last night and I thought we battled playing shorthanded,” head coach Adam Maglio said. “Guys were playing minutes they hadn’t seen in a while .”
The Chiefs, who came into the game with a power-play unit among the league’s worst, scored three times on five man-advantages.
Maglio credited the success with getting guys to the net – which he mentioned last week as an area that needs improvement.
Spokane’s first power-play goal opened the scoring for the game when Reed Jacobson took a feed from Eli Zummack in front of the net at 13:59. It was Jacobson’s second goal of the season.
Blake Swetlikoff scored Spokane’s second power-play goal at 5:15 of the second when he put home a rebound off a Matt Leduc shot.
Adam Beckman got the Chiefs’ third power-play goal at 10:40 of the third from the top of the circle with teammates in front of Milic.
Keltie Jeri-Leon scored for Seattle in the first period. Jeri-Leon has five goals this season – all against Spokane.
Payton Mount made it 2-1 Seattle at 2:42 of the second. The lead was short-lived, though, as Swetlikoff’s power-play marker came nearly 3 minutes later.
Erik Atchison tipped a Bobby Russell shot from the point at 15:28 to give Spokane a 3-2 lead. The Chiefs killed 1:25 of a 5-on-3 Seattle power play at the end of the second to preserve the lead. But Tyrel Bauer scored just 13 seconds into the third to knot the game at 3-all.
Seattle pressed in the third and got Spokane stuck in its own end for a lengthy amount of time and Jared Davidson took advantage, as Seattle reclaimed the lead at 8:57 of the third. Beckman’s power-play goal helped take the game to overtime. The Chiefs had a man-advantage in overtime but couldn’t connect.
Maglio said new Chief Mitchell Kohner, who is on loan from the Prince George Cougars, is out of his mandatory quarantine and will skate for the first time at Tuesday’s practice. Kohner’s availability for Wednesday’s home contest against the Tri-City Americans is still to be determined.