Spokane Chiefs let third-period lead slip away, fall at home to last-place Wenatchee 5-4

Unlike last season, when the Spokane Chiefs led the league in scoring and was ranked second in the power play, earning a playoff spot is not a foregone conclusion this season, as the club entered the Christmas break with just one more win than loss in their ledger – tenuously tied for seventh and eighth places in the conference.

So, if they fail to find their groove down the stretch and miss out on the postseason they can point back to games like Saturday, where they allowed a third-period lead to evaporate and lost to the last-place team in the conference at home.

The Wenatchee Wild scored three goals in the first 2 minutes, 21 seconds of the third and the Chiefs lost to their visitors 5-4 in a Western Hockey League U.S. Division game at the Arena.

The Chiefs had the better of play most of the night, outshooting Wenatchee 38-21 and winning 61% of the faceoffs. But the power play, which has struggled to find success all season, went 0 for 5 and ranks last in the WHL at 11.6% (15 for 129).

Head coach Brad Lauer is still away from the team fulfilling duties for Canada’s entry in the IIHF World Junior Championship in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“We thought that we were on our game for most of the game,” associate coach Brian Pellerin said. “We had some opportunities. Probably didn’t get to the net enough. We had lots of shots, but I thought there was lots laying around for us and we just didn’t get to them.”

The Chiefs led 3-2 entering the third period, but 42 seconds into the frame the Wild knotted it up on a fluky goal. Blake Vanek’s shot from the right wing went wide, and Riley Bassen’s centering attempt from behind the net deflected off a skate and behind Chiefs goalie Carter Esler (16 saves) for his first career WHL goal in his first game.

Wenatchee took the lead 49 seconds later when Nolan Caffey beat Esler at point-blank range for his third goal of the season. The Wild made it 5-3 50 seconds later when Mason Kraft completed a two-on-one for his seventh of the season, and Pellerin asked for a timeout.

“We just told them, you know, it wasn’t good enough the way we were playing at the time,’ he said. “We were trying to make too many things happen.”

A little later the Chiefs had an extended power play, which included 1:38 of five-on-three play, but were unable to score.

Spokane pulled Esler in favor on an extra attacker with 2:43 left in the game and knocked one in 21 seconds later, when Mathis Preston’s snipe was tipped by Coco Armstrong making it a one-goal game with 2:22 to go.

“I’ve been going to the net, and getting more ice time this year,” Armstrong said about his second goal of the game career-high 12th of the season. “I’ve been getting more chances and bearing down on them. I worked on that during the summer too, so that helped.”

But the Chiefs couldn’t find the equalizer.

Chiefs general manager Matt Bardsley traded draft capital and a couple of players for 20-year-old forwards Logan Wormald and Dominick Petr before the holidays with the hope of bolstering the roster for the second half of the season.

“We came back from break, didn’t play our best,” Armstrong said. “But with the pick-ups we got, I think we’ll be alright. We’ll be a playoff team. We’re not worried about that.”

The Wild (11-19-1-1) got on the board 59 seconds into the game, with Vanek converting a rebound of a Bassen shot off the rush on Bassen’s first WHL shift.

“We address it every day just by telling the guys, ‘Be ready, you know. Let’s have a good start.’” Pellerin said. “Obviously, we weren’t ready to start the period, and it’s something that we need to work on and make sure that we’re getting better at that all the time.”

Already down a man with Armstrong off for tripping, the Chiefs (17-1-0-0) went down two as Harry Mattern was whistled off for the same infraction.

Three seconds before Armstong’s penalty was set to expire, Owen Martin knocked a puck from midair out of play and took a two-minute delay of game penalty.

But the Chiefs killed off all of the infractions to keep it a one-goal game.

Spokane tied it up a few minutes later when Chase Harrington and Gavin Burcar created a turnover in the Wild zone and Harrington snapped Burcar’s rebound past Wenatchee goalie Cal Conway for his 12th goal of the season.

Wenatchee made it 2-1 three minutes into the second period. Winger Grady Wedman drew two defenders into the corner with him leaving Zane Torre alone in the slot for his third goal of the season.

The Chiefs evened it up three minutes later, when Armstrong converted a nifty feed from Sam Oremba from behind the net for his 11th goal of the season.

“When Coco is on his game and he’s playing north-south hockey, he’s been good all year,” Pellerin said. “He’s bought into being a top penalty killer in the league and he’s grown that identity by playing the right way. He’s had results and couldn’t be happier for him.”

Spokane took its first lead of the game with 9:08 left in the period as Owen Martin fed Wormald on a two-on-one for the winger’s 16th goal of the season.

The Chiefs got their third crack at the power play with 6:37 left in the frame but it expired without incident.

Transactions: Newly acquired forward Dominik Petr made his Chiefs debut. The 2005-born forward and a fifth-round pick in the 2029 WHL Prospects Draft was acquired on Dec. 9 from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for defenseman Kaden Allan (2008) and forward Elias Pul (2006).

Import forward Assanali Sarkenov returned to the team after winning silver with Team Kazakhstan at the Division I, Group A U20 World Championships, where he wore the “C” and finished with five goals and three assists over four games.

Forward Nolan Bisson, defenseman Ryker Doka and goaltender Alexander Watren were all returned to their respective junior clubs.