The Spokane Chiefs defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-1 in a Western Hockey League game Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center.
Seattle (16-12-2-1) took a 1-0 lead at 1:32 of the second period. Alexander True chipped the puck into the Spokane zone on the left wing. Ryan Gropp got the puck along the board and skated into the left circle towards the net. At the bottom of the left circle, Gropp crossed the puck through the low slot to Keegan Kolesar in the right circle. Kolesar beat Spokane goalie Dawson Weatherill low for his fourth goal of the season.
Spokane (14-11-5-1) tied the game 1-1 at 9:38 of the second just after the T-Birds killed off a power play. Ethan McIndoe got the puck past Seattle goalie Rylan Toth on assists from Hayden Ostir and Tyson Helgesen.
The Chiefs outshot the T-Birds 13-5 in the second period and led 19-14 in shots after two periods.
The Chiefs went in front 2-1 at 9:23 of the third period on a power-play goal from Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Keanu Yamamoto and Kailer Yamamoto had the assists.
The T-Birds pulled Toth with a minute left in the game to try and scoring the tying goal. The T-Birds had several good chances on Weatherill with the extra attacker but the Spokane goalie made the saves.
Kailer Yamamoto scored an empty-net goal with one second left in the game to get the Chiefs final goal.
The Chiefs outshot the T-Birds 32-30 in the game.
Toth made 29 saves on 31 shots and his record is now 12-12-1-0.
Weatherill is now 6-5-3-1 after making 29 saves on 30 shots.
On deck
The T-Birds have back-to-back home games this weekend – the Prince George Cougars at 7:35 p.m. Friday and the Tri-City Americans at 7:05 p.m. Sunday.
Fans may purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – No scoring. Penalties – Moilanen, Sea (hooking), 3:26. Fiala, Spo (hooking), 5:49. Volcan, Sea (tripping), 13:44. Ke. Yamamoto, Spo (slashing), 16:39.
Second period – 1, Seattle, Kolesar 4 (Gropp, True), 1:32. 2, Spokane, McIndoe 7 (Ostir, Helgesen), 9:38. Penalties – Ottenbreit, Sea (hooking), 7:37. Toporowski, Spo (roughing),15:01. Gropp, Sea (interference), 16:32.
Third period – 3, Spokane, Anderson-Dolan 17 (Ke. Yamamoto, Ka. Yamamoto), 9:23 (pp). 4, Spokane, Ka. Yamamoto 20, 19:59. Penalties – Kolesar, Sea (checking to the head), 8:22. Brown, Sea (high-sticking), 10:08.
Shots on goal – Seattle 9-5-16 30, Spokane 6-13-13 32. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 31 shots-29 saves (12-12-1-0); Spokane, Weatherill 30-29 (6-5-3-1). Power plays – Seattle 0-2; Spokane 1-6. A – 4,510. Referees – Jeff Ingram, Bryan Bourdon. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Adam Brastad.
