Spokane, Wash – The Spokane Chiefs overcame a 4-2 3rd period deficit in a 5-4 overtime win over the Kootenay ICE in WHL action on Saturday night.
The ICE (27-15-4-4) opened the scoring in the first period as Joe Antilla put in a rebound off a point shot from Joey Leach.
Leach has assists in 3 straight games.
30-seconds after Mitch Holmberg hit the crossbar on a breakaway the ICE took a 2-0 lead as Luke Philp earned his 1st WHL assist with a pass to Dylen McKinlay who scored with a redirection near the net.
With 11.7 seconds left in the period the ICE made it 3-0 as Eric Benoit’s body check created a turnover and Elgin Pearce went to the net and his wrist shot went off the goalies arm into the net.
The Chiefs changed the goalie at the start of second period as Erik Williams replaced Mac Engel.
The Chiefs (27-14-4-3) scored 2 goals 1:18 apart with Tyler Fiddler getting a rebound and Marek Kalus on a deflection.
In the third period the ICE took a 4-2 lead on Joe Antilla’s 2nd of the game as he scored on a rush.
Chiefs tied the game with 2 goals less than 3 minutes apart with Corbin Baldwin on the powerplay and Darren Kramer on a rebound to force overtime.
This was the 6th overtime game of the month and they have a 2-0-3-1 record.
Brendan Kichton scored the winner with a wrist shot from the slot that beat the goalie high on the stick side.
In 5 of the last 6 ICE losses they had a lead in the 3rd period at one point or another.
This was the second time the ICE have lost a game when having a 3-goal lead.
Eric Benoit extended his point streak with 3 games.
Joe Antilla has 51 career goals and is the 25th player to reach that milestone.
The Chiefs wore Military Appreciation Camouflage Jerseys.
In January the ICE played 13 games during a 26-day stretch.
The ICE will host Calgary on Friday.
ICE Scratches – Luke Paulsen (14th game, 2-3 weeks), Drew Czerwonka (7th game, 1-2 weeks), Max Reinhart (3rd game, 1-2 weeks).
Mike Simpson played forward and Jeff Hubic went back to the blueline.
Game Summary
Spokane 26-14-4-3 Kootenay 27-15-3-4
1st Period
1, Kootenay, Antilla 8 (Leach, Montgomery), 4:16.
2, Kootenay, McKinlay 11 (Philp), 14:43.
3, Kootenay, Pearce 18 (Dirk, Muth), 19:49.
Penalties-Wand Ktn (slashing), 6:30; Wand Ktn (hooking), 17:08.
2nd Period
4, Spokane, Fiddler 11 (Holmberg), 12:48.
5, Spokane, Kalus 12 (Kichton, Aviani), 14:06.
Penalties-Vandane Spo (kneeing), 1:21; Baldwin Spo (holding), 15:31; Ismond Ktn (hooking), 16:15.
3rd Period
6, Kootenay, Antilla 9 (Benoit), 12:08.
7, Spokane, Baldwin 4 (Stewart, Gal), 14:31 (PP).
8, Spokane, Kramer 18 (Aviani, Kalus), 17:16. Penalties-Kuhn Spo (inter. on goaltender), 9:46; Ismond Ktn (spearing, spearing), 12:39.
OT Period
9, Spokane, Kichton 10 (Walchuk), 3:10.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Kootenay 6-4-13-2-25. Spokane 8-18-15-5-46.
Power Play Opportunities-Kootenay 0 / 3; Spokane 1 / 5.
Goalies-Kootenay, Lieuwen 20-11-4-2 (41 shots-37 saves). Spokane, Engel 22-12-1-2 (6 shots-3 saves); Williams 11-17-3-2 (17 shots-16 saves).
A-8,412
Referees-Jeff Ingram (82), Brett Iverson (24).