With the Everett Silvertips winning and Portland Winterhawks losing on Saturday night, the U.S. Division title was already securely in the arms of Carter Hart and his teammates. Also, with the Spokane Chiefs winning over the Tri-City Americans on Saturday, all the playoff spots in the U.S. Division bracket -and for that matter the whole WHL – were set.
That meant that the regular season finale that saw the Spokane Chiefs visiting Portland had no impact on the standings.
Portland handed out their team awards before the game.
Scholastic Player of the Year: Mason Mannek
Booster Club Fan Favorite: Skyler McKenzie
Best Defensive Player: Henri Jokiharju
Sportsmanship and Ability: Conor MacEachern
Rookie of the Year: Mason Mannek
Leading Scorer: Cody Glass
MVP: Cody Glass
Character – Leadership – Heart and Soul: Skyler McKenzie
Spokane had the only goal in the first period when a turnover at the blue line sent Riley McKay in alone. The rangy forward made a slick move before beating Portland goalie Shane Farkas between the legs for his fourth goal this year.
Portland then rolled out a few goals in the second for the second straight home game.
Lane Gilliss, with a defenseman all over his bag drove over to the right of the zone. Gilliss threw the puck on net but Spokane goalie Donovan Buskey flicked the puck away. Mannek followed up the play though and backhanded home his 10th goal this year.
Glass then improved his season total in points to 102 with a nice outlet pass for Kieffer Bellows. The N.Y. Islanders prospect beat Buskey for his 41st this year and the 2-1 lead.
McKenzie then crawled closer to 50 goals as he took a nice pass from Keoni Texeira and beat Buskey over the glove on the rush for goal number 47.
That would be as close as he would get to 50, but it is a five-goal improvement on the 42 he put up in 2016-17. He is eligible to return as an overage player in 2018-19.
In the third period, Ryan Hughes stick-handled into the slot and beat Buskey over the glove for his 17th this year. He ended up well short of the 27 goals he put up in 2016-17, but with all the time he missed with his leg injury that should not be surprising. He did end up with 0.89 points-per-game, which is an improvement on the 0.81 he put up in 16-17.
The celebratory mood was shattered though as the Chiefs – without star winger Kailer Yamamoto – roared back to tie the game and force overtime.
Jake McGrew got the Chiefs within 4-2 on the power play, with 8:17 left in regulation.
Luke Gallagher’s point shot was stopped by Farkas, as was Ethan McIndoe’s follow up, but McGrew found the second rebound and hammered the puck in for his 19th this year.
Just 37 seconds later, Spokane netted their third goal of the game.
Milo Fafrak drove into the Portland zone and beat Farkas on the blocker side for his ninth goal in his rookie campaign.
The comeback was completed on the power play. Nolan Reid finished off some slick passing to put in his 14th, with just 21 seconds left on the clock in the third.
Glass had taken a boarding penalty with 54 seconds left, to give them the man advantage.
The Chief went 2/3 on the power play a day after Seattle went 2/9 on the man advantage vs Portland.
Portland was 1/3 on the man advantage.
McKay then beat Farkas on the fourth Spokane attempt in the shootout to give Spokane the win.
Portland was unsuccessful on all four of their attempts.
The two teams start their best-of-seven first round series on Saturday at Veteran Memorial Coliseum.
Notes:
-Glass finished tied for sixth in WHL points. He was fifth in assists with 65.
-McKenzie tied for sixth in goals with 47.
-Jokiharju was a plus-47, which was good for second among all d-men and fifth overall.
