Sluggish Chiefs can’t hold Tigers

The Spokane Chiefs, as they have done far too often in this young Western Hockey League season, fumbled with the ignition switch again Wednesday night.

Just like it did in Sunday’s overtime road loss to Seattle, the bumbling start proved costly as Medicine Hat opened up a quick two-goal lead and held on for a 4-3 win in front of a disappointed Arena crowd of 3,457.

The Tigers (8-3-0-0) came in leading the Central Division of the Eastern Conference and jumped on the Chiefs (5-3-2-0) early, scoring two first-period goals. They increased their lead to 4-2 late in the second on a goal by Matt Lowry and then held off a frantic Spokane rally that included David Rutherford’s first goal of the season, which pulled the Chiefs to within one with just more than 3 minutes left.

Despite launching a barrage of shots at Tigers goaltender Matt Keetley over the final 4 minutes, the Chiefs could not complete the comeback.

“I don’t know, it’s like we always start bad,” said Michael Grabner, who scored one of Spokane’s three goals. “We can’t always be behind like three goals, or two goals. It’s too hard to come back nowadays.

“We better have better starts, or else we’re going to lose a lot of games like this.”

In Seattle, the Chiefs spotted the Thunderbirds three first-period goals before batting back to force overtime.

Coach Bill Peters said the way this game unfolded had a similar feel, but added he felt better about his team’s effort – especially in the final minutes.

“We got excited once we scored to get the thing within one,” he said. “But that excitement and desperation is how you have to play for 60 minutes against good teams if you want to win.

“And we just haven’t learned that lesson yet.”

Despite falling behind early, the Chiefs manufactured their share of excellent scoring opportunities, but cashed in on precious few.

“We must have had four different 2-on-1s where we came up empty,” Peters said. “We had a lot of opportunities, a lot of numerical advantages that we didn’t capitalize on. We’ve got to execute better offensively early in the game to make teams play.”

Spokane had a chance to crawl out of the early hole midway through the second period when a rash of Medicine Hat penalties resulted in a couple of power-plays chances. But the Chiefs managed only one goal – Grabner’s team-high seventh of the season – and the Tigers were able to increase their lead to 4-2 by period’s end.

The Chiefs were down 2-0 less than 13 minutes into the game, courtesy of goals by Jerrid Sauer and Kevin Undershute. They were in danger of slipping even further behind when Corey Courchene was whistled for roughing shortly after Undershute’s goal, which came on a nifty pass from Darren Helm.

But some good work on the penalty kill froze the lead at two, and with just 24 seconds left in the period, Chris Bruton put Spokane on the board with his second goal of the season, courtesy of a nice 2-on-1 feed from Chris Langkow.

“Mentally, we just have to prepare better,” Bruton said of his team’s early struggles. “We get down and we come back just a little too late.”

Spokane travels to Vancouver on Friday. Vancouver beat the Chiefs 4-2 earlier this year in Vancouver.

Tigers 4, Chiefs 3

First Period – 1, MH, Ennis 3 (Sauer, Rumpel) 3:30; 2, MH, Undershute 6 (Helm, Bosch) 12:41; 3, Spo, Bruton 2 (Langkow, Rutherford) 19:36. Second Period – 4, Undershute 7 (Helm) 5:11; 5, Spo, Grabner 7 (Wahl, Courchene) 10:41 (pp); 6, MH, Lowry 1 (Dendfeld) 17:03. Third Period – 7, Spo, Rutherford 1 (Blackwater, Wahl) 16:44. Power-Play Opp. – Medicine Hat 0 of 5, Spokane 1 of 5. Saves – Medicine Hat, Keetley 31 saves; Spokane, Tokarski 37 saves. A – 3,457.