SPOKANE 4
VICTORIA 1
(Royals lead series 3-2)
The Royal coronation was put on hold.
That’s because the Spokane Chiefs will not go gently into that good spring night.
The Chiefs are still alive thanks to the dexterous and stellar goaltending of Lasse Petersen and an uncanny sense of opportunism that squeezed the most out of their few offensive chances.
The Chiefs’ defenders flung themselves at the puck, blocking 16 shots in the game, including eight in the third period.
It resulted in a 4-1 Western Hockey League victory that seemed to stun the sold-out crowd of 7,006 Friday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Victoria, which finished with 17 more wins and 31 more points than Western Conference eighth-seed Spokane in winning the WHL regular-season championship, still leads the best-of-seven first-round playoff series 3-2.
The sixth game is a 5 p.m. start Sunday in Spokane. A seventh game, if required, will be Tuesday night back on Blanshard.
Petersen turned in a towering 43-save performance. It’s hard to believe the six-foot-two, 18-year-old from Swan River, Man., is the back-up to injured regular starter Tyson Verhelst, who has yet to dress in this series.
Victoria rookie goaltender Griffen Outhouse, who seemed to be fighting the puck in the first two periods, made 19 saves.
“Their goalie played outstanding tonight,” said Jack Walker, Victoria’s lone scorer.
“We had opportunities and chances. We have to do a better job of capitalizing, especially on the power play [on which Victoria went 0-4 and also gave up a back-breaking short-handed goal].”
The Royals had all the early pressure but it dissipated rather bizarrely when a door problem on the Victoria players’ bench caused a 10-minute delay in the game that seem to sap Victoria’s momentum. Instead, it was Spokane that took the against-the-flow 2-0 lead on a power-play goal by Kailer Yamamoto at 17:18 of the first period followed by Curtis Miske’s first goal of the playoffs.
“It’s one of those things you can’t control,” shrugged Walker, of the odd momentum-sapping door incident.
Trailing 2-0, Walker literally made things happen with a deft move to the net and then staying with his rebound to put Victoria on the board at 18:10 of the first period. That gave the Royals a lift as they threw themselves into attack in the second period. Yet it was another strange counter-flow moment that restored Spokane’s two-goal advantage as Jacob Cardiff banked home an acute-angle shot off the back of Outhouse’s head at 6:28.
The game could have been tied in the second period but for two controversial calls — one an offside and the other a quick whistle — and, of course, the goaltending of Petersen.
When Keanu Yamamoto converted a short-handed two-on-one from brother Kailer, at 7:29 in the third period, it was done as the rink went quiet.
“They [Chiefs] work for their chances and they capitalized on their opportunities,” said Victoria coach Dave Lowry.
“We had some good chances and rebounds and hit cross bars and posts.”
ICE CHIPS: The Royals, already without captain Joe Hicketts, may have another injury to worry about. Forward Vladimir Bobylev skated off hobbled in the third period and did not return to the game. . . . Portland Winterhawks head coach/GM Jamie Kompon was fired Friday following the club’s rapid exit from the first round of the playoff. Everett swept the series 4-0.
