Good start to the series

[LifelongChiefsFan]

Looking at the format going into the series, my mindset was that if the Chiefs could manage a split in Portland then things would be looking pretty good for the Chiefs the rest of the way. Well they managed to do more than that by taking the first 2 games in Portland. That was honestly more than I expected, in fact I wouldn't have been shocked to see Portland win both. But I did think there would be a split. The Chiefs didn't play particularly well overall in their first game, but the veterans sure stepped up in the third. I think the Chiefs' experience with winning in the playoffs had a big part in their comeback against a Portland team where most were playing in their first playoff game. Ulmer and Johnson, 2 of the Memorial Cup team members, got the goals to tie early in the third which somewhat deflated Portland and then Beach with the winner late. I'll admit, I was wrong about him, what a solid pickup he turned out to be. I'm not sure where the Chiefs would be without him.

The Chiefs played much better in game 2 and the Kuhn line was rewarded for it's great play in both games with 2 goals. That was pretty cool to see. Reid played a fantastic game (minus the garbage time goal) and the 4 minute penalty kill in the third was just fabulous. Portland could barely even get the puck in the Chiefs zone. I think Portland conceded defeat in that game after they couldn't get a goal on that power play. Just a wonderful inspired effort.

I've done a lot of reading around the various message boards/blogs and Portland fans still seem pretty confident seeing as Portland went 4-0 in Spokane this year. I have a hard time arguing their point, but I think this is a different Chiefs team than the one Portland beat up on in the first half of the season. In 3 games since Spokane has gotten all their guys back from injury and various tournaments, Spokane has gone 3-0 against Portland, all of which were on the road. It's not impossible, Portland is still a very good and very dangerous team, but given the experience and the fact that Spokane is a damn good team themselves, I personally don't see this series going back to Portland. But I guess we'll see, I know Portland is not going to roll over, so it'll be up to the Chiefs to bring it too and play even better than they did to start the series. I'm curious to see what other people feel about this or even just about the series in general.

[LifelongChiefsFan]

A much different game tonight. Portland came to play and dominated. They fully deserved the win and if not for James Reid being absolutely phenomenal, the score would have been much uglier. It looks like I may have spoken too soon. Portland has made the adjustments that they needed and it paid off this evening. If Spokane doesn't counter now, this series will be heading back to Portland. We'll see what game 4 has in store.