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Spokane Chiefs

Mathis Preston scores insurance goal, Spokane Chiefs edge Tri-City 4-3 on the road in last regular season game

By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

From staff reports

KENNEWICK – Mathis Preston scored what turned out to be a crucial insurance goal in the early part of the third period and the visiting Spokane Chiefs held off the Tri-City Americans 4-3 in the Chiefs’ final regular-season game at Toyota Center on Saturday.

The Chiefs (45-20-1-2, 93 points) are locked into the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs, which will start on the road against sixth-seeded Vancouver on Friday or Saturday.

Preston tipped in a shot from the point by Brayden Crampton at the 13:41 mark of the third period to give the Chiefs a two-goal lead. But like Friday’s shootout loss to Seattle, the Chiefs’ defense had a hard time making it stand up.

The Americans (32-28-6-1, 71 points) picked up a power-play goal by defenseman Jackson Smith – his second power-play marker of the period – with 51 seconds left and with their goalie pulled has several quality chances in the waning moments, but rookie goalie Carter Esler (22 saves) was equal to the task and the Chiefs held on.

Rasmus Ekström staked the Chiefs to a 1-o lead early in the second period, when his wrist shot went off the skate of an Americans defender and past goalie Lukas Matecha for his 25th goal of the season.

Tri-City evened it up just 32 seconds into the third period. On a 2-on-1, Jake Sloan passed to Brandon Wynott, and he beat Esler for his 26th goal of the season.

But the Chiefs responded with Ekström’s second goal of the game – a one-timer off a feed from Andrew Cristall – and Sam Oremba’s rebound goal in a 2:09 span to make it 3-1.

Smith scored a power-play goal not four minutes later to get Tri-City within one, but Preston answered quickly with the 23rd goal of his rookie season to restore the two-goal advantage with 6½ minutes left.

Cristall had two assists and finished the season as the league leader in points with 132 (48 goals, 84 assists). Spokane’s Shea Van Olm was the league’s goal-scoring leader with 49 and captain Berkly Catton finished third in the league with 109 points in 57 games.