WHL Playoffs: ‘Resilient’ Spokane Chiefs roll into Portland with 2-0 series lead in Western Conference finals

Spokane Chiefs coach Brad Lauer still doesn’t think his team has played its best hockey.

That’s saying something, since the Chiefs enjoy a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League Western Conference Championship series against the Portland Winterhawks.

The Chiefs took different paths in Games 1 and 2 at the Arena – a 10-4 rout on Friday and 6-5 overtime win Sunday – and had an array of heroes to win the first two games of the series.

The overtime win Sunday was the Chiefs’ fourth consecutive triumph in extra time in this postseason. They held a two-goal lead in the third period before watching Portland storm back late to force OT.

“Obviously, we got off to a really good start, and a two-goal lead in the third period is something that we shouldn’t really blow and let them get back in the game,” said Andrew Cristall, who scored a hat trick. “But, you know, they’re a really good offensive team, and they’re here for a reason.”

“I wouldn’t say that was our best game by any means,” Lauer said. “It was kind of one of those games where it’s a little bit back and forth and then eventually we did get the lead in the third period. But again, with some sloppy play, we (let) them back in the game. But sometimes you’ve got to win ugly, and you’ve got to find ways to do it. And you know, our group did.”

Chase Harrington scored the overtime winner with his fifth goal of the playoffs.

“I think we were confident that we would pull out the win,” Harrington said. “We’ve done it before, like third or fourth overtime win. So we kind of had confidence in ourselves.”

“It’s a lot of resilience,” Cristall said. “I think it’s got a lot to do with the veterans in the room and guys kind of staying level-headed and even-keeled throughout the whole thing. … It’s just kind of that next-goal mentality – kind of leave what happened in the past and just go out and battle.”

Portland wants to play fast and get up the ice against teams. The Chiefs do, too. That can cause a wide-open offensive showcase that keeps both teams in every game.

“That’s their identity. They play hard, they’re a fast team,” Lauer said. “But saying that, I think sometimes we helped that out. We didn’t manage the puck very well. We kind of fed their transition with some turnovers, some lazy plays in the neutral zone or just over the blue line, which allowed them to get their game going and use their speed against us.”

With the Arena unavailable Thursday through Sunday with Cirque du Soleil in town, the next three games are in Portland, which made it critical to leave with a 2-0 series lead.

“It’s huge,” Cristall said. “To win the first two at home, it’s really big. It forces (Portland), if everything does go wrong, to have to come back and beat us here at home. And you know, we really like to play here. We wanted to put on a good show for our fans.”

“We did what we needed to do here on home ice,” Lauer said. “That’s the biggest thing, is getting the two wins. Looking at (Portland’s) track record here in the playoffs, they’ve been down 2-0 going back home and been able to do something with it. So, by no means do we understand it’s over. We put ourselves in a situation we wanted to.

“Now, we’ve just got to worry about Game 3, making sure we’re prepared for that.”

Top Chief: Chiefs general manager Matt Bardsley was named winner of the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the WHL Executive of the Year for 2024-25, the Western Hockey League announced Tuesday.

Bardsley’s efforts helped Spokane finish second in a highly competitive U.S. Division with a 45-20-1-2 record, marking the team’s winningest season in 14 years.

Spokane finished second in goals for (292) and fifth in goals against (202) while dominating on special teams with the WHL’s top power play (28.9%) and third-best penalty kill (80.8%).

This marks the fourth time a Chiefs GM has won the award and the first time since 1999-2000, when Tim Speltz won his second WHL Executive of the Year award.

More awards: Cristall was named WHL Player of the Week, and forward Assanali Sarkenov was named WHL Rookie of the Week.

This is the fourth time Cristall has been recognized with the weekly award in 2024-25, in addition to a WHL Player of the Month win in November . He led all WHL skaters with five goals and four assists for nine points in three games to help the Chiefs reach the WHL Western Conference Championship.

Sarkenov led all first-year players with four goals and one assist for five points in three games.