Chiefs take 2-0 series lead over Americans

SPOKANE - Blake Gal scored two goals and Mitch Holmberg had two assists as the Spokane Chiefs scored on 2-of 5-shots in the third period to beat the Tri-City Americans 6-4 in Game 2 of their best-of-7 Western Conference Playoff series on Saturday in front of 6,008 at the Spokane Arena.

Spokane now leads the series 2-0 with Game 3 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City opened the scoring on a goal by Drydn Dow 5:24 into the first period. Goals by Liam Stewart and Tyler King 33 seconds apart gave Spokane a 2-1 advantage at the 7:32 mark before Parker Bowles tied the game less than a minute later. Marcus Messier scored his first of the playoffs to give Tri-City a 3-2 lead after the first.

Spokane tied the game on Gal's first of the night and Todd Fiddler's first goal of the playoffs gave Spokane a 4-3 lead after the second.

A power-play goal by Tri-City tied it with a little under 11 minutes remaining, but goals by Gal and Mike Aviani late in the game capped the scoring.