Conner Roulette scores twice, Cooper Michaluk strong between pipes as Spokane Chiefs down Seattle 5-1

On Friday night, the Spokane Chiefs scored twice in the last 5 minutes to give themselves a chance in what ended up a 5-4 road loss to Seattle.

They maintained that momentum against the same opponent Saturday night at the Arena.

Conner Roulette scored two goals as the Chiefs scored the first four goals of the game and beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1 in a Western Hockey League game.

The Chiefs (27-29-5-1) moved 12 points ahead of Seattle (23-37-2-0) and 13 ahead of Tri-City for the eighth and final playoff spot in Western Conference with six games to play. They are just two points behind Vancouver for seventh place.

“I think if there was 5 or 6 more minutes left in (Friday’s) game, I think we could have evened that up,” Roulette said. “And then just carrying that momentum into today, obviously, you’re getting a better start knowing how knowing how to play them. It’s nice when you play back-to-back because then both teams know what to expect from each other.”

“We kind of came in here with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder that we were going to take that those two points back from them, and so we did that,” Chiefs goalie Cooper Michaluk said.

Michaluk played one of his best games of the season, making 37 saves .

“(Michaluk) really stood his ground and particularly in second period when we ran into some penalty problems,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. “You need your goalie to be your best penalty killer and he was tonight. I was happy for him. I thought he played the puck well and had good rebound control and made some outstanding saves that took him goals off the board for them.”

“The team was solid in front of me and made it pretty easy for me,” Michaluk said. “The trick is keeping your eye on the puck and so that’s what I tried doing, that’s why I was able to kind of see the pucks that rolled behind me a little bit.”

“I think the best thing I liked tonight is it didn’t end up 7-5 or something,” Smith said. “We were OK winning 4-1. … You have to do that down the stretch here in order to make the playoffs, which is still the goal.”

The Chiefs took the early advantage with Berkly Catton’s power-play goal. Chase Bertholet gathered the puck from behind the Seattle goal and when the T-birds defenseman turned his attention, Catton sneaked in from the left point. Bertholet put it on a tee for Catton, who buried it for his 49th goal of the season.

Saige Weinstein made it 2-0 a few minutes later with another power-play goal, a one-timer off a pass from his defensive partner Layton Feist, for his 10th goal of the season.

Roulette scored 2 minutes into the second period with a tremendous individual effort, beating a Seattle defenseman to wipe out icing, then circling the net and holding the puck until goalie Scott Ratzlaff committed. He then tucked the puck behind the goalie for his 39th goal of the season.

“Once I picked up the puck, I looked up and saw there was no one there to pass to,” Roulette said. “The (defenseman) in front wasn’t really pressuring me, so I just used my body and the angle. I had the body position to take it to the far post and I just kind of held it.”

“That was a strong play by a veteran guy,” Smith said. “I know he likes playing (Seattle) as it’s his old team, so I’m sure it’s special to him to score.”

Later in the period playing 4-on-4, Catton chipped the puck ahead on a breakaway to Roulette, who stuffed it under Ratzlaff’s pads to make it 4-0.

Seattle had more than a minute of 5-on-3 in the latter stages of the second, but Michaluk made several highlight-reel saves on a flurry of shots.

The T-birds finally got on the board on another power play, Seattle’s fifth of the game, with Braeden Cootes scoring his 14th of the season on a goalmouth scramble with 90 seconds left in the second period. It stayed that way until late in the third, when Lukáš Král added an empty-net goal, his seventh goal of the season.

Seattle was 1 for 6 on the power play and outshot Spokane 37-29.