After snatching Game 2 of their first-round, best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series against Spokane this past Saturday, the Seattle Thunderbirds had aspirations of socking away a pair of victories on their home ice at the ShoWare Center.
With the series tied at 1-1, the defending Memorial Cup champion Chiefs squashed those aspirations, taking two games on the road from the T-birds this past Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Spokane waylaid Seattle 5-1 in the first-ever postseason game at the ShoWare Center. Despite an early 1-0 Seattle lead – with T-bird rookie forward Colin Jacobs earning his first career WCL goal at the 7:18 mark on an assist from Prab Rai and Greg Scott – Game 3 of the series was all Spokane, with the Chiefs getting two goals and two assists from Levko Koper and two goals from Tyler Johnson.
The Chiefs’ special teams were dominant in the contest, scoring two power-play goals and two shorthanded goals.
Spokane goalie Dustin Tokarski stopped 32 of 33 shots and the T-birds’ Calvin Pickard made 29 saves on 34 shots.
“If you give them too much room or you make too many mistakes, they make you pay,” Seattle coach Rob Sumner said after the game. “They’re a good team.”
With the series at 2-1 in favor of the Chiefs, the two teams squared off again at the ShoWare Center on Wednesday night, with Spokane taking Game 4, 3-2.
“I still think in several areas we were better,” Sumner said. “It was certainly a better game performance tonight.”
Spokane took an early lead with Justin McCrae scoring a goal on an assist from Dustin Donaghy at the 3:27 mark of the first period.
Seattle quickly bounced back with Jim O’Brien sneaking a rebound by Tokarski at the 4:18 mark. Jeremy Schappert and Jeremy Boyer notched assists on the goal.
With 13 minutes left in the first, Schappert gave Seattle the lead at 2-1, popping a deflection over Tokarski’s glove.
“It was kind of a gift in front of the net,” Schappert said.
Both teams had 12 shots on goal in the first period, but in the second it would be all Spokane, as the Chiefs grabbed the lead for good on goals from Johnson and Ondrej Roman. Spokane had 12 shots on goal in the second to Seattle’s seven.
Despite several desperate flurries by the Thunderbirds in the third period, the Chiefs held on for the win and a 3-1 lead in the series, courtesy of Tokarski’s steadfastness between the pipes in the third.
“If he sees it, he’s going to get it,” Sumner said. “We’ve got to get traffic. We had some close calls off scrambles tonight. We have to create rebounds so he has difficulty. Basically anything he gets set for and sees, he’s going to stop. We’ve got to get him unpredictable shots, ones he can’t see until the last second. And be in front of him for the rebounds. We have to score those grittier type of goals, because he’s tough to score on.”
Tokarski stopped 28 of 30 and Pickard stopped 34 of 37.
Now the series moves to Spokane for Game this Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Arena.
“It’s must win now,” Sumner said. “All games you want to win, we’re in a position of must win. Desperation, survival, we’re going to have to go into that mode. It’s win or go home. That’s how we have to approach that. We know what we’re up against. They don’t change, they just play it. Maturity shows and their experience shows. So the good news is that we know what we’re up against.”
“It’s always a tight game, a tight series when we play these guys,” Schappert added. “We’ll come ready to play.”
Game 6, if necessary, will be played at 5:05 p.m. on Sunday at the ShoWare Center.
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