Chiefs drop crucial game to Americans in tight playoff race

Games against basement dwellers like the Tri-City Americans are the kinds of games the Spokane Chiefs need to win if they want to secure a playoff spot. That’s why Saturday’s 6-3 loss to Tri-City might come back to bite the Chiefs as the season winds down.

The Chiefs scored three times on the power play but gave up four goals at 5-on-5 and played catch-up all night.

Tri-City scored on its first shot of the game just 56 seconds in when Jake Sloan redirected the puck past Spokane goaltender Mason Beaupit.

Yannick Proske evened things up on the power play at 12:27, but Parker Bell scored his own power-play goal for Tri-City at 15:43 to retake the lead.

The Chiefs evened it up again at 18:37 of the first when Chase Bertholet scored a power-play goal, his 21st goal of the season.

Sasha Mutala put home a rebound at 6:51 of the second to give Tri-City the lead once again. Tanner Gould gave Tri-City a two-goal lead when he scored at 16:14 of the second.

But the Chiefs wouldn’t go away, and just like they did in the first period, they got a key power-play goal late in the period to cut Tri-City’s lead to one.

Proske picked up his 11th goal of the season and second power-play goal of the night when he poked one past Tri-City goaltender Tomas Suchanek with 1:01 left in the second.

The Chiefs had a golden opportunity to tie the game early in the third when they had 1:18 of 5-on-3. Proske missed a wide-open net off a rebound shot that would have tied it and given him a hat trick, and the Chiefs were left empty handed.

A few minutes later, Mutala scored his second of the game to give Tri-City a 5-3 lead. Bell added an empty netter with 1:25 remaining.

The Chiefs have six games on the road before returning home for the regular season finale on April 6 against Everett.