Chiefs snap two-game skid
Beach, Johnson divide goals in win at Kelowna
KELOWNA, British Columbia – It was a happy homecoming for Kyle Beach, and the Spokane Chiefs enjoyed it, too.
Beach returned to his hometown and joined with Tyler Johnson to lead Spokane to a 4-3 Western Hockey League victory over the Kelowna Rockets to snap a two-game losing streak.
Spokane (6-5-1), which pulled within one point of third-place Everett in the U.S. Division with just its second win in five games, took command with a four-goal second period, then held off Kelowna (8-7-1) in the third.
“I was real happy with the special teams,” Spokane coach Hardy Sauter said, alluding to the fact the Chiefs scored on two of four power plays while withstanding four Kelowna power plays, the final one over the last 1:48. The Rockets pulled goalie Adam Brown for an extra skater the final 1:09 but couldn’t score.
“We still have errors to eliminate in our own zone, but with an effort like this, we will win our share of games,” Sauter said.
After a scoreless first period, in which the Chiefs outshot the Rockets 14-7 but were frustrated by Brown, the teams combined for 30 shots and six goals in the middle period.
Beach and Johnson divided Spokane’s goals – and each picked up an assist – as the Chiefs scored on their first two shots by 1:48 of the period, and opened a 3-0 lead before Kelowna managed to solve Spokane goalie Michael Tadjdeh.
Beach started and ended Spokane’s scoring, the first just 35 seconds into the period, to run his team-leading goal-scoring total to 10. He has scored half of them the last two games.
Tyson Barry scored twice for Kelowna and Mitchell Callahan added a third-period goal.