Chiefs withstand several Americans power play opportunities to win 2-1

Giving the opponent eight power-play opportunities usually means your team is on the wrong side of the box score.

But thanks to an outstanding penalty kill and stellar goaltending, the Spokane Chiefs withstood the onslaught and eked out a 2-1 win over the Tri-City Americans in front of 7,113 fans at the Arena Friday night.

Berkly Catton put home a power-play goal at 11:43 of the third to nab the winner. Goaltender Dawson Cowan was incredible in net, stopping 32 shots as Tri-City dominated puck possession and zone time throughout the game.

“The penalty kill was outstanding tonight. It was a big reason we were able to stay in the game,” Spokane head coach Ryan Smith said.

“I attribute that to our work in practice and guys bearing down on it, and also the goaltending.”

After two scoreless periods and Tri-City outshooting Spokane 28-12 heading into the third, the game opened up a bit. Elouann Lemonnier got loose on a short breakaway to give Tri-City a 1-0 lead 3:36 into the final period. The goal came right after Spokane had killed another penalty.

With as tight as the game was – and how dominant Tri-City had been with puck possession and zone time – the one-goal deficit might have seemed insurmountable.

But Spokane’s third line of Blake Swetlikoff, Grady Lane and Jake Gudelj felt otherwise.

Not 2 minutes after Lemonnier’s goal, Lane and Swetlikoff skated in 2-on-1. Lane sent a pass across the ice that deflected and hit Tri-City goaltender Nick Avakyan. The puck slid to the goal line and Gudelj, who was trailing the play, dove and poked it in to tie the game.

Catton’s power-play winner came after Ethan Ernst took a slashing penalty for Tri-City.

But the story of the game was the penalty kill – including a 5-on-3 kill in the second period – and Cowan in net. Cowan bounced back after giving up six goals in a loss at Seattle on Tuesday.

“It was a lot of fun, the guys battled pretty hard,” he said. “We’ve been close these past couple games and it’s nice to get two points out of this and I think we really deserved it.”

Cowan was under siege at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. He credited his teammates for their defense on the PK, helping him maintain his focus on his job: keeping pucks out.

“The biggest thing in those cases is to not get run around and not get too much movement,” he said. “You have to lead with your eyes and beat passes. The guys were amazing tonight and I didn’t really have a ton of shots (to face) on the PK because the guys battled so hard and boxed guys out.”

The Chiefs penalty kill has improved since the team left on its Eastern Conference road trip just before the Christmas break. Smith said the team practices it a lot during the week, and the Chiefs got plenty of PK practice against Tri-City.

“We’re flexing out on (the opponents’) flank and not giving them enough time on the outside,” Smith said. “We’re also making sure we’re blocking shots. You’re short a man so you’re going to give up something, but you need to be able to get in front and make sure you block some shots.”

The Chiefs and Americans are back at it tonight in Kennewick for their annual New Year’s Eve matchup.