The Spokane Chiefs eliminated the Everett Silvertips from the WHL playoffs with a 2-1 win tonight. Ty Smith had the primary asissts on both Spokane goals as the Chiefs knocked off Everett four games to one and will now face the Vancouver Giants in Round 3.
Robbie Holmes struck again for Everett, getting the Silvertips up 1-0 on the big board just 1:32 into the game. But a discipline meltdown in the middle part of the first period tied things up for Spokane.
Riley Sutter and Matt Leduc went off for fighting at the 8:24 mark of the first and Sutter was also assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to go along with the fighting major. The Chiefs capitalized on the ensuing power play when Nolan Reid scored off an assist from Ty Smith at the ten minute mark of the first period.
That made the score level at one going into the second and it was another power play that Spokane would convert to take the lead for good. Sahvan Khaira was called for slashing at 4:22 of the second. Riley Woods potted one during the man advantage from Ty Smtih and Jaret Anderson-Dolan at 5:24 to make it 2-1 Chiefs.
And that Woods goal would prove to be the game-winner. Everett ended the night with 15 minutes in penalties while Spokane largely stayed out of the box, ending up with only the fighting major to Leduc and a Luc Smith double-minor for boarding at 16:33, which made for quite the finish as Spokane was killing that off to end the game along with the Silvertips pulling goaltender Dustin Wolf for the sixth attacker with just under two minutes to go in regulation.
Everett ended the game 0-for-2 on the power play while Spokane was 2-for-5, which ended up as the difference in the game.
But the Chiefs held on and got the win, knocking off Everett in the process. Ty Smith had the two assists for two points on the night, was an even plus/minus and had one shot on goal in the game.
Between the pipes, Wolf made 19 saves on 21 shots against while the home town Chiefs’ Bailey Brkin stopped 34 of 35 Everett shots against.
The Chiefs will now move on to round three to take on the Vancouver Giants at a date and time to be decided.
Across Canada in the QMJHL, there is a date, time and opponent set for game one of the Halifax Mooseheads’ third round series. They will begin a series with the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Friday, April 19 at 7:30 PM from the Centre Marcel Dionne in Drummondville. We will have coverage of that series for you right here as well as the continuing adventures of the Ottawa 67’s and the Spokane Chiefs.