Trevor Hills’ goal 39 seconds into the first overtime period gave the Chilliwack Chiefs a 4-3 win over the visiting Trail Smoke Eaters Friday night at Prospera Centre.
The win snaps a five game losing streak for the Chiefs (5-5-0-1).
Chilliwack started the game on the penalty kill after David Bondra was called for delay of game for failing to vacate the ice in time at the conclusion of the pre-game warm up.
The Chiefs opened the scoring with a power play goal at the 9:57 mark of the first period. Derek Huisman did most of the work when he carried the puck out of the right corner and beat Trail goaltender James D’Andrea short side top corner. It was Huisman’s seventh goal of the season. David Bondra and Alex Perron Fontaine earned the assists.
The game took a bit of a nasty turn when two fights broke out with 6:59 left in the period. Chief’s rookie forward Garrett Forster squared off against Clayton McEwan while Matthew Hutchinson, in his first game with the Chiefs, traded blows with Clayton Chessa. Hutchinson and Chessa were given game misconducts for being involved in the second altercation during the same stoppage in play.
Chilliwack led 13-10 on the shot clock through twenty minutes.
Trail drew even on a well-executed faceoff play at 4:30 of the second period. Brent Baltus won a draw to the left of Chiefs net minder Mitch Gillam and left the puck perfectly for Adam Fares who made no mistake sweeping the puck between the legs of Gillam for his second goal of the season.
Fares was the playmaker on Trail’s second goal centering the puck to Taylor House who did a nifty job deflecting the puck behind Gillam to give the Smoke Eaters a 2-1 lead with just over six minutes left in the period. Logan Proulx picked up the second assist.
Shots after two periods favored the home team 20-16.
Kit Sitterley tied the game at two when he knocked in a rebound six minutes into the third period. Spencer Graboski started the play making a nice pass to Josh Hansen in front. After the puck bounced off of Hansen’s skate and the goaltender, Sitterley pushed the puck across the goal line for his fifth goal of the season.
Ninety seven seconds later, the Chiefs took a 3-2 lead when Jeremy Gossard finished off a two on one break with his third goal of the season. Forster led the play over the blue line, drew the lone defenseman over before sliding a perfect pass to Gossard. Jaret Babych also assisted on the play.
Smoke Eaters forward Erik Cooper sent the game to overtime with a laser over the left shoulder of Gillam from 20 feet out with 3:24 left on the third period clock.
Early in overtime Hills took a pass from Forster 20 feet in front of the Trail net, took a moment to settle the puck down then put the puck over the right shoulder of D’Andrea.
Chilliwack finished with 36 shots on goal to Trail’s 26.
The Chiefs were 1/5 on the power play and 5/5 on the penalty kill.
Chilliwack is back in action Saturday night when they visit the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The Chiefs next home game is Wednesday night when the Surrey Eagles make their only visit of the season to Prospera Centre.
