Mar. 31—LANGLEY, British Columbia — Rookie Mathis Preston recorded his first Western Hockey League hat trick as the Spokane Chiefs build a big lead and held off the Vancouver Giants 7-5 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series at Langley Events Centre on Sunday.
The series turns to the Spokane Arena for Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) this week.
The Chiefs outshot Vancouver 57-37 and dominated the Giants in the second period, when they fired 33 shots on goal and built a 6-0 lead.
It was a good thing, too, as things got a little dicey in the third with Vancouver scoring five consecutive goals.
Chiefs captain Berkly Catton's second goal of the game, an empty netter with 58 seconds left in the game, provided some needed insurance.
"You know, obviously (we're) not happy with how it ended or how it happened," Chiefs assistant coach Jake Toporowski said after the game. "But coming up here, having to start on the road and getting two wins, that's the most important thing."
The offensive hero for the Chiefs was Preston, who scored three of the team's first four goals. Cameron Parr and Catton chipped in goals later in the second period — for both, it was their first career playoff goal — to make it 6-0.
It was a seemingly insurmountable lead.
Until it wasn't.
Vancouver, coached by former Chiefs head coach Manny Viveiros, scored three goals in the first six minutes of the third period to cut Spokane's lead in half. Colton Roberts tallied with eight minutes to go, making it 6-4, and Tyler Thorpe converted on a power play with 3:10 remaining to make it 6-5.
The Chiefs played more than two tense minutes from there, scoring again only when Catton found an empty net with eight seconds remaining.
Vancouver winger Cameron Schmidt finished with a goal and three assists for a game-high four points; Catton had an assist to go with his two goals.
The Chiefs went 0-for-4 on the power play and allowed the Giants to go 1-for-3 with the extra man.
The three goals for Preston were his first in five career postseason games; he had 23 goals and 22 assists during the regular season.
"He's a special talent, and he's continuing to mature and grow in his game," Toporowski said of Preston, who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. "He's an offensive guy and he buried the three tonight, but away from the puck he was doing a very nice job. ... down the road he could be the best player in the league. He's going to be vital for us down this playoff run."
Catton, playing his third full WHL season, had been held without a goal in his first nine playoff games. He had the third-most points in the WHL this season with 109.
WHL regular season goals leader Shea Van Olm also scored a goal and assisted on another for Spokane.
The Chiefs, who weren't able to play at the Arena over the weekend due to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament games, will get a chance to clinch the best-of-seven playoff series at home. Their last playoff series victory occurred in 2019, when they reached the Western Conference Final, which the Chiefs lost to Vancouver in five games.
