Chiefs spread the puck around as six different players score in win against Medicine Hat

So far in the young season, the Spokane Chiefs have had trouble scoring goals when they weren’t playing the Victoria Royals, one of the lesser teams in the league.

But Friday night at the Arena, things changed in a big way as the Chiefs put six on the board against the Medicine Hat Tigers, winning 6-3 after scoring three goals in the final period.

All six goals were scored by different players, with Blake Swetlikoff and Ty Cheveldayoff both picking up a goal and two assists. Kooper Gizowski, Saige Weinstein, Chase Bertholet and Berkly Catton all had a goal and an assist.

Cooper Michaluk got the start in net for Spokane in the first of back-to-back games, making 32 saves, including 16 in the third period to preserve the lead.

The Chiefs took a 2-0 lead early in the first when Cheveldayoff and Bertholet scored 1 minute, 4 seconds apart. It looked like Spokane might cruise the rest of the way, but the Chiefs started taking trips to the penalty box. Medicine Hat scored its first goal, a snipe from the point by Brendan Lee, on one of those Spokane penalties.

“It was an up-and-down game. We started really well and then we got into penalty problems,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. “We gave them some momentum and they have a really good power play, No. 1 in the league.”

The message during the first intermission was simple: Stay out of the penalty box. The Chiefs heeded their coach’s advice and didn’t spend any time in the penalty box in the second period.

Despite the clean play, Medicine Hat tied it at 6:20 when Shane Smith scored his fifth of the year . But Weinstein helped Spokane retake the lead when he scored his second of the season a little more than 3 minutes later.

Oasiz Wiesblatt tied it again for Medicine Hat 4:01 into the third when he tipped home a shot from the point.

But halfway through the period, Medicine Hat’s Tyler MacKenzie was called for goaltender interference, giving Spokane a power-play opportunity at a crucial time.

The power play didn’t last long because Catton took the puck off the ensuing faceoff and sniped one past Tigers goaltender Beckett Langkow for what turned out to be the winning goal.

“(The puck) just kind of popped out, and I was lucky to be there. I just shot it at the net and it went in so it was good,” Catton said.

The Chiefs got insurance goals from Swetlikoff and Gizowski, who put one into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining.

Catton said the team took Smith’s message after the first of staying out of the box to heart.

The Chiefs only gave Medicine Hat one more power play the rest of the game, a roughing call on Graham Sward midway through the third.

“When we’re out of the box, we’re such a good team,” Catton said. “We’re good when we’re steady, not too high and not too low. That’s what we focused on tonight and ended up being pretty good through the stretch of not taking any penalties.”

The good news, at least, is Spokane killed four of Medicine Hat’s five power plays, including a 5-on-3 in the first period.

Michaluk was fantastic in net and came up with big saves throughout, but none more important than the ones he made in the third

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