Reed Johnson’s OT goal gives Chiefs win against Cougars
The Spokane Chiefs looked like they were on their way to a second straight win before the Prince George Cougars scored a power play goal with 5:03 left Wednesday night at the Arena. But instead of getting down, the Chiefs stuck to their game plan and Reed Jacobson got a fortunate bounce and scored the overtime winner with 32 seconds remaining to give Spokane a 3-2 win.
Jacobson had the puck in the left circle and tried to thread a pass across the ice to teammate Yannick Proske. Instead, the puck hit a Prince George defender and deflected past Prince George goaltender Tyler Brennan.
“(Raegan Wiles) gave me the puck down low and I saw Yannick on the other side and tried to feed it through the seam. It hit a stick and bounced in so I’ll take it,” Jacobson said.
The goal came on the power play after Spokane’s strong possession forced Prince George’s Connor Bowie to take a hooking penalty.
Jacobson missed time earlier this season recovering from a broken leg that required surgery. Wednesday’s game was just his 12th of the season, and the game-winner was a huge confidence booster.
“It was a bit of a bigger injury with surgery along with it but I’ve been progressing each game and I’ve started to feel better each game,” he said. “I can feel my game kind of come back to where it was before. I just want to keep going and get back to where I was.”
Chase Bertholet led the way for Spokane with a goal and an assist. Mason Beaupit made 27 saves in the win and 12 in the third period alone as Prince George picked up the pace.
“We found a way in OT to get a win,” head coach Adam Maglio said. “I thought our best two periods were our first and second. In the third we ran into a bit of penalty trouble and gave up a late goal. But we found a way to pick it up in OT.”
Bear Hughes broke the ice at 8:08 of the second when his power play goal gave Spokane a 1-0 lead. Hughes one-timed a pass from Graham Sward from the left circle past Brennan.
Prince George tied the game at 17:23 when Koehn Ziemmer scored his 18th of the season. The play was originally ruled no-goal on the ice and Ziemmer was awarded a penalty shot as Spokane defenseman Brayden Crampton hooked Ziemmer down on the way to the net. But officials reviewed the play and ruled that the puck crossed the goal line as Ziemmer collided with Beaupit, dislodging the net.
The Chiefs didn’t let the goal affect them, though, and Chase Bertholet scored on a 2-on-1 with Nick McCarry with 27 seconds left in the second period to give Spokane a 2-1 lead.
Then the Cougars put their foot on the gas in the third. Prince George outshot Spokane 14-3 in the final frame and forced overtime when Riley Heidt scored a power play goal with 5:03 remaining. Grady Lane was in the box for Spokane after he took a tripping penalty.
The Chiefs could have lost all confidence, but they heeded their head coach’s message heading into overtime.
“Stay patient and stay to our game plan, which was puck possession and patience,” Maglio said of his pre-overtime message. “We did that in OT. We made smart changes with possession. We didn’t force anything and we ended up drawing a penalty out of it.”
The Chiefs have a day off and are back at it on Friday when the Kelowna Rockets come to town.