So far, the Spokane Chiefs have struggled to score goals when not facing one of the bottom teams in the league, the Victoria Royals.
But that all changed on Friday night as the Chiefs scored six against the Medicine Hat Tigers and scored three goals in the final period to win 6-3 in the arena.
Blake Swetlikov and Ty Cheberdayov scored one goal and two assists respectively, with all six goals scored by different players. Cooper Gizowski, Sage Weinstein, Chase Beltre and Barkley Catton scored goals and assists.
Cooper Michaluk got the start in the net for Spokane in the first of back-to-back games, making 32 saves, including 16 in the third period, to maintain the lead.
The Chiefs took an early 2–0 lead in the first when Shwerdayov and Beltre scored one minute and four seconds apart. With Spokane appearing to cruise the rest of the way, the Chiefs began their trip to the penalty box, where Medicine Hat was one of Spokane’s penalties and Brendan his snipe off Lee’s points. I scored my first goal.
“It was a back and forth game. We started very well, but then we faced penalty issues,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. “We gave them momentum. They have a really good power play and he’s number one in the league.”
The message during the first intermission was simple: Stay out of the penalty box. The Chiefs heeded their coach’s advice and spent no time in the penalty box in the second period.
Despite the clean play, Shane Smith scored for the fifth time of the year. But Weinstein helped Spokane regain the lead when he scored his second of the season just over three minutes later.
Oasiz Wiesblatt once again tied the score at 4:01 in Medicine Hat and shot from the points to take third place.
However, midway through the period, Medicine Hat’s Tyler McKenzie was called for goaltender interference, giving Spokane a crucially timed power play opportunity.
The power play didn’t last long as Catton removed the puck from the ensuing showdown and shot at Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow for the winning goal.
“(The puck) just popped out and I was lucky to be there. I just shot it at the net and it went in, so that’s good,” Catton said.
The Chiefs scored insurance goals from Swetlikov and Gysowski before scoring into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining.
Catton said the team took Smith’s out-of-the-box message seriously.
The Chiefs only gave Medicine Hat one more power play for the rest of the game before making a rough call to Graham Seward midway through the third.
“Out of the box, we are a very good team,” Catton said. “It’s good when it’s stable, not too high, not too low.
The good news, at least, is that Spokane killed four of Medicine Hat’s five power plays, including a 5-for-3 in the first period.
Michaluk was great at the net and came up with big saves throughout, but none more important than the save he made in third.
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