Yamamoto's OT goal helps Chiefs fight off elimination

PORTLAND — Kailer Yamamoto netted his first goal of the playoffs at the 9:19 mark of overtime and the Spokane Chiefs staved off elimination by beating the Portland Winterhawks 5-4 in Game 5 of their first-round Western Hockey League playoff series Saturday night in front of 6,033 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Portland leads the series 3-2 heading back to Spokane for Game 6 on Monday at the Spokane Arena starting at 7 p.m. Game 7 would be back at Portland on Tuesday night.

Portland led 2-1 after the first period, with Riley Woods scoring a power-play goal in the first period for Spokane.

Hudson Elynuik scored his third goal of the playoffs for Spokane to tie it at 2 at the 12:38 mark in the second period. Portland regained the advantage 19 seconds later to take a 3-2 lead after two.

Jake McGrew scored his first playoff goal for Spokane to tie it at 3 before Portland’s Dennis Cholowski scored his series-leading fourth goal to put Portland back in front.

Nolan Reid scored with 30 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime for Spokane, which improved to 4-3 in Portland this season.

Portland is 5-1 against Spokane at the Spokane Arena.