Ethan Hughes scores go-ahead goal in third period, Spokane Chiefs edge Portland 3-2 | WHL hockey

The Spokane Chiefs met the Portland Winterhawks in last year’s Western Conference finals – which the Chiefs swept to reach the Western Hockey League championship series. But the fortunes of the franchises have been much different this season, with both mired in the bottom half of the conference, fighting for their playoff lives.

The Chiefs “found a way,” according to their coach, and created some much-needed cushion as the season draws to a close.

Ethan Hughes scored the go-ahead goal with less than eight minutes left in the game and the Chiefs edged the Winterhawks 3-2 in a Western Hockey League Western Conference game at the Arena on Wednesday.

“It was huge,” Hughes said. “Division game, it’s so tight and we need these points. Now we can go into the weekend with some confidence.”

“We found a way tonight,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said. “I wouldn’t say it was a pretty win, but it was a win we needed and we found a way to get it done.”

Like last year’s playoff series, the Chiefs have swept Portland in the season series between the teams. 

“I think we’ve done the job against them every single time we’ve played them,” Hughes said. “So it was nice to get that one done too.”

At the end of February, the Chiefs had solidified a hold on the postseason with a six-game winning streak – all against teams below them in the conference – that saw them climb to fifth place in the Western Conference.

But they subsequently lost all three games of a road trip over the first 10 days of March, including a pair to third-place Prince George, and their grasp on a playoff spot has returned to tenuous with six regular season games to go.

“The importance of getting wins right now, with the standings – (playoffs) is not a given yet,” Lauer said. “The month of February we did a good job to find some traction. And then, this last road trip we didn’t fare well. We did play some good hockey at times on the road … but we gave up goals we shouldn’t have been giving up.”

So, Wednesday’s game against eighth-place Portland – just three points behind Spokane at the start of the night – became a critical juncture in the Chiefs season.

The Chiefs (33-29-1-0, 67 points) are now four points ahead of seventh-place Seattle, five points ahead of Portland (28-29-5-1) and six points clear of ninth place – and missing a playoff berth – with five games to play. 

Spokane broke a 2-2 tie with 7:51 to go when Gavin Burcar barreled down the right wing, beating a defender, and fed Hughes on the far post, who tapped it in for his ninth goal of the season.

“(Burcar) got it down the wall, made a great play out front,” Hughes said. “I kinda stopped it there, and it went in.”

“One thing we haven’t done (this season) is get to the front of the net,” Lauer said. “We’ve had some looks, had some chances. But we don’t get those second, third opportunities because we’re not there. We’re not going to the net. And that was a perfect example of going to the net. (Burcar) made a great play to (Hughes) and he went to the far post. When you do that, you’re going to get rewarded.”

The Chiefs killed a penalty with five minutes to go, then withstood nearly two minutes of 6-on-5 after Portland pulled its goalie to hang on to the win. Coco Armstrong, who scored earlier in the game, was instrumental with preserving the win, laying out to block several shots late.

“Going into the playoffs it’s going to be important not to take these penalties,” Lauer said. ‘But our kill did a good job of getting it done. And our 5-on-6, with (Armstrong) blocking some big shots for us, got the job done.”

The Chiefs had the better of play early, with the game’s first four shots on goal, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. They received the game’s first power-play opportunity 4 1/2 minutes into the contest but came up empty there too.

The shot advantage eventually reached seven, but Chiefs captain Will McIsaac was whistled for high-sticking and Portland made him pay when Jordan Duguay scored a power-play goal for his 20th of the season at 9:25 of the period.

The Chiefs outshot Portland 13-5 in the period – but trailed 1-0 after one.

Spokane got on the board just 1 minute, 18 seconds into the second period, when Armstrong banged home a rebound from the slot for a power play goal, his 22nd goal of the season. Armstrong scored 12 goals total over his first two WHL seasons.

The Chiefs made it 2-1 midway through the period. Logan Wormald, playing in his 300th career WHL game, carried the puck behind the net and was dumped by a defender, but from his backside fed Tyus Sparks out front, who lifted it past Portland goalie Ondrej Štěbeták for his 27th goal of the campaign.

But Portland evened it up with 1:15 left in the period as Alex Weiermair skated in 1-on-3 while on the penalty kill and slotted a backhander past Chiefs goalie Carter Esler (20 saves) for his 35th goal of the year.

The Chiefs were already on a power play with 12 minutes to go when Ryan Miller ran over Esler, drawing a goaltender interference penalty. Scrums ensued, and the Chiefs ended up with 1:48 of 5-on-3. But Štěbeták thwarted both shots on goal the Chiefs managed to get through and it remained tied.

“With the travel that we had last week, I knew this game was gonna be tough for us. Kind of a ‘trap’ game,” Lauer said. “We just had to stay focused and play the right way, do the right things.”