The Chilliwack Chiefs ran into a hot goaltender Saturday night at Prospera Centre, falling 2-1 to Landon Pavlisin and his Nanaimo Clippers.
Making his 23rd appearance of the season, Nanaimo’s backup goaltender stopped 41 shots, handing Chilliwack a potentially costly defeat.
The Chiefs had a chance to put seven points between themselves and the Prince George Spruce Kings in the battle for first in the BCHL and Mainland division standings. Instead, the gap stands at five, with PG holding one game in hand. Chilliwack is still in the driver’s seat, but with three straight games against the Spruce Kings to end the regular season, the Chiefs have to be feeling a bit antsy.
The Clippers led Saturday’s game 1-0 through 40 minutes on a power play goal by MacKenzie Merriman.
Chilliwack’s Harrison Blaisdell scored his team-leading 33rd of the year on a Chiefs power play 11:49 into the final frame, but Nanaimo collected the game winner 41 seconds later, with Thomas Samuelson slipping the puck past Chilliwack netminder Daniel Chenard.
Chenard stopped 24 of 26 pucks, and faced enough high-quality chances to earn a third-star selection. Blaisdell was the second star and Pavlisin the first.
Chilliwack and Prince George battle Sunday afternoon, with a 2 p.m. start at Prospera Centre.
