Victoria – Matteo Esposito made 28 saves to backstop the Chiefs to a 4-1 win in Victoria Sunday afternoon.
The Chiefs got goals from four different players and improved their record to 32-12-4-3.
The win earned the Chiefs a split in their three game weekend road trip versus island division teams. After earning a 4-4 tie in Powell River Friday the Chiefs dropped a 3-1 decision at Cowichan Saturday.
The win also guaranteed the Chiefs home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Wenatchee Wild won all three of their weekend games to move within two points of the Chiefs for the mainland division lead. The two teams meet for the final time during the regular season Wednesday in Chilliwack.
Sunday it was the Grizzlies, sporting their retro Victoria Salsa jerseys that opened the scoring when PJ Conlon scored his 21st goal of the season with 1:31 left in the opening period.
Just twenty five seconds later the Chiefs drew even when Jake Smith finished off a three on one break beating Matthew Galajda for his eighth of the season.
The game remained tied until Taylor Allan scored his sixth since joining the Chiefs at the trade deadline in January with 2:23 left in the second period.
Jordan Kawaguchi’s 35th of the season with 4:18 put the game on ice for the Chiefs.
Jesse Lansdell added his 15th of the season into an empty net with 39 seconds left.
