Nathan Mayes plays unlikely hero, Spokane Chiefs edge Kamloops 3-2 in first of back-to-back games

The Spokane Chiefs entered their first home game of the new year with a seriously depleted lineup, missing several veteran players and a good chunk of their scoring offense due to illness, injury and other obligations.

It was left for others to come up big.

Nathan Mayes, a 6-foot-4 defenseman and the seventh-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in last year’s NHL draft, scored with just more than 8 minutes left in the game and the Chiefs edged the Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a Western Hockey League game at the Arena on Saturday.

The Chiefs host Kamloops again on Sunday.

It was Mayes’ third goal of the season and just his fourth in 101 WHL games.

“It’s a big win for us,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said. “Especially since we were missing some key guys.

“We’ve always talked about how we’re not a one-man or one-line team. We like our depth, and I thought our team showed that tonight.”

An unlikely source for offensive power, Mayes took the puck at the blue line, stickhandled around a defender, put the puck back on his forehand and whipped it past Blazers goalie Logan Edmonstone with 8:17 left in the game.

“That’s definitely gonna be one of the better ones this season,” Mayes said. “I was just trying to make a play and get it on net and it worked out, I guess.”

“It was a great move, a really good move,” Lauer said. “He showed composure with the puck and made the right play. That’s what you want to see your ‘D’ do.”

The Chiefs drove play most of the night and outshot their visitors 43-24.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Lauer said. “I thought we played well. Obviously, we had a sparse lineup, but I thought we generated a lot of shots, a lot of good opportunities. For the kids that we had dressed tonight they were able to go and I liked our game. We competed hard in the areas we needed to.”

The Chiefs (25-13-0-0) played without captain Berkly Catton, who was still away from the team despite Team Canada being ousted from the World Junior Championships on Thursday, forward Shea Van Olm (illness), defenseman Brayden Crampton (illness), and forwards Cam Parr and Owen Martin.

“We know that they aren’t here,” Mayes said. “You’re looking around the room and you’re missing guys. You just have to make the best of the situation and put up a fight every game. It doesn’t matter who we’ve got, we’re gonna roll with who we’ve got.”

“We don’t make excuses,” Lauer said. “I understand we’re thin missing some key guys, some important guys. But it’s opportunity, too. Take advantage of it. …That’s the message we’ve sent all year as a coaching staff – it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup our expectations are standard. They’re set. And we have to play up to them every game.”

The Chiefs were awarded the first power-play opportunity of the game and didn’t waste it, with Hayden Paupanekis burying a back-door feed from Chase Harrington at 4:49 of the first period for his 10th goal of the season. Asanali Sarkenov, fresh off his return from the World Junior Championships with Team Kazakhstan, earned the secondary assist.

An otherwise impressive period of hockey by the home team, in which they outshot their visitors 17-11, came undone with 6.3 seconds left in the period.

The Chiefs failed to clear their zone along the right wall and Kamloops defenseman Jager Gugyelka kept the puck in at the point. He lobbed a soft wrist shot toward the net and it slipped past Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan (22 saves), who was screened on the attempt, for the 17-year-old’s first WHL goal in 30 games.

The Chiefs were caught with too many players early in the second period and Kamloops (13-20-3-0) made them pay when Jordan Keller banged home a rebound of Tommy Lafreniere’s shot at 2:15 of the period for his 17th goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.

It stayed that way until 4:45 left in the period.

After a sustained offensive-zone possession, Coco Armstrong bounced the puck from below the goal line off Edmonstone and into the net for his first goal of the season to tie it.

“(Armstrong) has had a tough couple of years,” Lauer said. “He’s been hurt a lot. But he’s finding his way. …He just has to get those games that he’s missed back. But he’s getting comfortable.”