Four-goal first period propels Chiefs over Tigers in Game 2

By James Tubb on May 11, 2025.

After a Game 1 loss, the Spokane Chiefs got the response they needed to knot the WHL Championship series up at 1-1.

The Medicine Hat Tigers opened the scoring Sunday, as they did in a 4-1 Game 1 win Friday, but it was the Chiefs who rattled off four unanswered in the opening frame for the eventual 6-2 win.

“Obviously we didn’t want to give up that first goal that quick, but I thought our kids, it didn’t phase them,” Chiefs’ head coach Brad Lauer said. “We stuck with it and found a way. We got a really good first period, were able to score four, so it was a good response. It was a good start, it was what we wanted.”

The loss snapped the Tigers 11-game win streak. Head coach Willie Desjardins thought the Chiefs responded well and he says they deserved the win.

” Spokane played really well, they were quicker than us in the first period,” Desjardins said. “They’re just a little bit hungrier, I don’t think there’s much more than that. They just played a really good game and they outplayed us tonight.”

Just 55 seconds into the game, Medicine Hat seemed poised for a repeat of Game 1 with an early goal much to the delight of the 6,238 in attendance.

Hunter St. Martin set up Cayden Lindstrom at the side of the Spokane net for a tap-in goal and his first of the WHL playoffs. The goal was also his first goal since March 30, Game 2 of a first-round series with the Red Deer Rebels. Andrew Basha had the second assist for his second point in his second game back from injury. 

Spokane responded with four unanswered goals in a span of 4:36 to lead 4-1 after 20 minutes. 

Berkly Catton picked the puck up at the Tigers blue line and skated in on Harrison Meneghin, scoring five-hole off a pair of dekes to tie the game up at 1-1 at 6:50. Shea Van Olm and Andrew Cristall had the assists on Catton’s 10th of the playoffs. Cristall, who finished with two assists on the night, liked the effort from his line with Catton and Van Olm as well as the rest of the group.

“Not just our line, but all four lines played an unreal game,” Cristall said. “We obviously wanted to have a little bit more of a bounce-back game. Five on five we played pretty well. So we get a lot of confidence, especially heading back home.”

Just 2:41 after Catton scored his first of the night, Rasmus Ekström made it a 2-1 Spokane lead with a tap-in off a cross-ice feed from Sam Oremba. The goal was Ekström’s eighth of the postseason.

The Chiefs grabbed a 3-1 lead off a turnover. Mathis Preston stripped a Tiger defender of the puck behind the net and fed Owen Martin in front for a one-timer at 10:12, his sixth of the playoffs.

They capped off the frame with another goal from the top line. A loose puck in front of the crease was picked up by Van Olm who spun and fired a shot past Meneghin for hist 12th and the three-goal lead after 20 minutes. 

Medicine Hat responded in the second period with a power play goal in the first six minutes of the frame.

As he has all season, Bryce Pickford unleashed a laser from the middle of the ice, beating Cowan to make it a 4-2 Spokane lead 5:55 into the frame. Tanner Molendyk had the lone assist on Pickford’s 12th.

The two teams traded special teams chances in the stanza, Medicine Hat had a seven second five-on-three power play that came at the end of three power play chances in the period. Spokane had a power play in the middle of the frame that saw the Tigers stand tall, preserving the two-goal deficit. The Tigers appeared to draw within two in the last minute of the period, St. Martin burst into the Spokane end and wired a shot that beat Cowan and was called a goal with 55.7 seconds left in the frame. After a review, the goal was called back as the puck hit the post and didn’t cross the goal line.

Desjardins didn’t believe the called-off goal lingered with his team.

“If it did, it shouldn’t have, there was no reason,” Desjardins said. “We’re down by two, we have to be hungry. They just capitalized and we didn’t.”

After a back and forth start to the third period, Spokane scored just past the halfway point for the 5-2 lead. On a three-on-three rush, Preston finished off a cross-ice pass from Martin. Nathan Mayes had the second assist on the goal putting Spokane ahead by three with 7:53 left in the final frame.

Spokane capped the game off with a second goal from their captain.

Catton, fresh out of the penalty box, was sprung on a breakaway and he scored his second of the night, third of the series and 11th of the playoffs for the 6-2 lead with 4:42 left in the game. Ekström had the lone assist.

Gavin McKenna was held scoreless for the first time since Nov. 2, 2024, snapping his 54-game point streak. In that span he had 40 goals and 137 points.

Cowan picked up his 13th win of the playoffs with 19 saves, Meneghin stopped 19 shots. For the second straight game the Chiefs outshot Medicine Hat, leading 25-21. The Tigers were 1-4 on the power play, holding Spokane scoreless on two man advantages. Medicine Hat won the face-off battle 41-32.

The Chiefs held on for the 6-2 win, tying the series up as they head back to Spokane for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. St. Martin says they’ll reflect and look to rebound the same way Spokane did.

“They just outplayed us, plain and simple, they won more battles than us, they got more bounces,” St. Martin said. “Now we take and reflect what we can and we have to rebound. It’s a quick turn around here on the bus, and we have to get Tuesday.”

See more on the opening weekend of the WHL Championship series in Tuesday’s News.

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