Shea Van Olm scores go-ahead goal in third period, Spokane Chiefs edge Vancouver Giants 4-3

At times Wednesday night, the Spokane Chiefs looked like a team poised to make a long run in the Western Hockey League playoffs. At others, though, it was as if they were still learning each other’s names.

The Chiefs dominated long stretches against the Vancouver Giants, the first of three games this week and a prelude to parents’ weekend at the Arena. But they never put away their opponent, and what could have been a comfortable win turned into a nail-biter.

Shea Van Olm scored an unassisted go-ahead goal early in the third period, Coco Armstrong added another a few minutes later and the Chiefs escaped with a 4-3 win over the Giants that wasn’t over, as the saying goes, until it was over.

The Chiefs (40-17-1-1) have won eight of their last 10 games and are five points behind Everett in the U.S. and Western Conference. Spokane has nine games remaining; Everett has 10. The teams play twice, on March 12 and 16, both at the Arena.

Spokane hosts Wenatchee and Seattle at the Arena on Friday and Saturday.

Assistant coach Brian Pellerin, who was filling in for head coach Brad Lauer who was out sick, said the analogy of teammates meeting each other the first time was apt.

“It’s kind of how we felt,” he said. “We did have stints where we felt like we were in control of the game, and then we just kind of lost our momentum or mojo a little bit and gave them some opportunities to create some offense.”

The Chiefs gave up a short-handed goal – their 15th of the season – and a bad turnover at the blueline led to a 2-on-1 for the Giants’ third goal with just more than 5 minutes left in the game.

“It’s definitely something that we talk about,” Pellerin said. “We’re cognizant of not giving up those opportunities. But we make a mistake, and they’re going the other way, and we just haven’t been good at that.”

“Our focus going into the playoffs has to be on playing a full 60 (minutes),” defenseman Saige Weinstein said. “If we play a complete 60 I think we can be a really, really dangerous team. But there’s small stuff we still have to clean up.”

Tied at 2-2 entering the third period, the Chiefs turned aside an odd-man rush early, and Van Olm picked up the long rebound. He came up ice with a pair of teammates but when the defense collapsed, he took it himself and his wrister from the right wing circle beat Vancouver goalie Burke Hood for his league-leading 48th goal of the season.

“Three on two was kind of formulating there, and they kind of took all the passes, so I just shot it and it went it,” Van Olm said. “(Hood) gave me that far side, so I just had to pick my corner.”

Armstrong made it a two-goal lead a few minutes later, taking a pass from Rasmus Ekström and sliding a backhander past Hood for his seventh of the season.

But Vancouver (28-23-7-0) hung around, and with just more than 5 minutes to go Andrew Cristall turned it over at the Giants blue line. Defenseman Ryan Lin wrested the puck from Cristall near center ice then found Adam Titlbach for a breakaway, who beat a defenseless Dawson Cowan for his 26th goal of the season.

The Giants pulled Hood with about a minute to go, but never really got a good opportunity for a tying goal.

“It’s definitely great to get this one under our belt,” Weinstein said. “Wednesday games can be a hard game to play. There aren’t as many fans and maybe a little less energy in the building so we kind of have to make our own energy.”

The Chiefs dominated play in the first period and were outshooting Vancouver 13-4 with about 6 minutes left in the period. A late power play allowed the Giants to close that gap a bit, but the teams played to a scoreless draw through 20 minutes.

It stayed that way through the first 7 minutes of the second period until the Chiefs finally broke through. Owen Martin circled behind the goal and passed to Saige Weinstein at the top of the left wing circle. Weinstein’s blast first hit a defender, then forward Mathis Preston and tumbled over Hood’s shoulder and into the goal.

Preston got credit for his 20th goal of the season. 

“I saw (Martin) coming around, thought I could cheat the other side and kind of come down on that one time, or downhill,” Weinstein said. “And you know, Marty’s good hockey IQ, he saw me coming, and he hit me. … I wasn’t that excited, to be honest. I was just kind of looking around to see if it went off anyone.”

The lead didn’t last long – and turned into a deficit in 26 seconds. 

Vancouver was whistled for a penalty, but the Giants took the advantage as Tyler Thorpe completed a 2-on-1 with Connor Levis for his sixth short-handed goal and 25th overall this season.

“We’ve got a lot of skill guys on one group, and you never want to get scored on while on a power play,” Van Olm said. “Teams are hungry and they want to be aggressive on our flanks and up top. So, it just comes down to practice and executing.”

The P.A. announcer had barely finished calling Thorpe’s goal when Vancouver scored again. The Chiefs couldn’t clear their zone, and Cameron Schmidt found Levis on a cross-ice pass for his 21st of the campaign and a 2-1 lead.

The Chiefs tied it later in the period. Preston slotted a pass from the wall between two defenders to Chase Harrington, who was streaking down the high slot. He settled the puck and whipped it past Hood for his 17th of the season.