The Spokane Chiefs built a 3-0 lead and held on to beat the Hurricanes 6-3. They were powered by WHL leading scorer Adam Beckman who collected five points on the night including the game winner early in the third period. Lukáš Pařík made 41 saves for the win, his 16th on the season.
This game started slow as both teams needed a bit of a feel out before getting going in, but when they did, the action was quick and furious. The Chiefs struck first in this one on an early power play. Bear Hughes banged home his 16th of the season with Beckman and Ty Smith getting the assists.
That goal got the party started for the visitors. Shortly after opening the scoring, they struck again. This time on the counter-attack, Beckman found Jack Finley back door on the odd man break and Finley tapped it into an open net for the 2-0 lead. It was his 17th of the season. Not long after, the Hurricanes got a chance and they almost answered right back, but Oliver Okuliar’s blast rang square off the crossbar.
Spokane continued to press and the line of Luke Toporowski, Leif Mattson and Eli Zummack led the way, pinning the Hurricanes in their own end. The result? A 3-0 Chiefs lead. Toporowski finished a beautiful passing play for his 21st of the season with his two linemates getting credit for the helpers.
Not happy with the opening 25 minutes of this game, Lethbridge came out flying in the mid part of the second period. While unable to beat netminder Pařík, they did earn a power-play chance. An Alex Cotton blast finally solved the Czech goalie while getting the Hurricanes on the scoreboard. Calen Addison collected the assist on the play.
Lethbridge then carried that momentum through the rest of the second. While not being able to capitalize on a second power-play chance, the Hurricanes did manage to pull within one before the end of the frame. Zack Stringer found a loose puck and was allowed to walk into the slot and slide it home with just 10.9 seconds left on the clock. That was Stringer’s ninth on the season.
Spokane didn’t allow the Hurricanes to get any closer. They quickly answered the late period goal by scoring just 27 seconds into the third period. Beckman located the puck and banged it by a down-and-out Carl Tetachuk for the first of his two on the night and his 42nd on the season. Assists were handed to Finley and Noah King. Three minutes later, Toporowski put the Chiefs back up by three with his second of the night and seemingly undid all the Hurricanes’ second period work.
Lethbridge, 18 seconds after falling behind by 3, again got one back from Brett Davis but were unable to find any more before Beckman put this game to bed with his 43rd of the season into the empty net. The visitors escaped with the 6-3 win.
Shooting the breeze: While Beckman had himself a night with five points, Dylan Cozens was held pointless while going minus-5, a tough night for the Hurricanes star. Beckman’s five points increase his lead at the top of the WHL scoring race and his total to 97 points. His 43 goals are also tops in the WHL.
Addison had two assists and led the way for the Hurricanes while Smith was held to just a single helper. He was a plus-5 however.
Pařík was solid for Spokane with 41 saves on 44 shots. Tetachuk also played well — despite giving up 5 goals, he came away with 22 saves in a losing cause.
The Hurricanes have now lost three in a row. The Chiefs have had wins in 8 of their last 9 games.
Next up for the Hurricanes is a visit from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night. They are a perfect 3-0-0-0 vs them this season. Spokane will continue its five game road trip in Swift Current Friday vs the Broncos before a Saturday tilt vs the Tigers in Medicine Hat.
