Spokane Chiefs defense roughed up on the road; Portland cruises to 5-2 win

PORTLAND, Ore. – Jordan Duguay scored two goals and the Spokane Chiefs lost to the Portland Winterhawks 5-2 in a Western Hockey League game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday.

Portland (21-13-2-0) scored three goals in a less-than 5-minute span in the second period.

The Winterhawks outshot the Chiefs 16-7 in a scoreless first period. Portland finally found the net early in the second period when Duguay converted a cross-ice pass from Alex Weiermair on the rush for his sixth goal of the season.

The Chiefs (24-13-0-0) tied it up a few minutes later as Cam Parr banged home a rebound off a shot from Hayden Paupanekis at 8:10 of the period for Parr’s second goal of the campaign.

The tie didn’t last long. A defensive breakdown led to Duguay alone in the slot and he beat Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan for his second goal of the game and a 2-1 lead just 68 seconds after Parr’s goal.

Portland made it 3-1 just 26 seconds later as a long pass up the left wall was gathered by Joel Plante, who sent a wrister past Cowan for his first goal of the season.

Kyle Chyzowski, alone in the slot, added to the Portland lead 7 minutes into the third, depositing his league-lead tying 27th goal of the season. Diego Buttazzoni made it 5-1 less than 2 minutes later with his 18th of the year.

World Juniors: Team Canada was ousted by Czechia 4-3 in a quarterfinal, while Team Kazakhstan was beaten by Germany in the relegation game. Chiefs players Berkly Catton (Canada) and Asanali Sarkenov (Kazakhstan) could return to the Spokane lineup as early as Saturday’s home game against Kamloops.