Chiefs finally solve Americans

Now, that’s more like it.

Spokane and Tri-City finally turned up the intensity of their longstanding rivalry to full bore, playing a tightly contested, physical Western Hockey League game Saturday night at the Arena.

In the end, Spokane prevailed for the first time this season in four meetings with the Ams.

Led by an oftentimes spectacular effort in net by rookie goalie Dustin Tokarski, Spokane defeated Tri-City 3-2.

“It was a good hockey game by both teams and the win comes at a good time for us,” Spokane coach Bill Peters said. “Tonight’s only the second time we’ve won on back-to-back nights, and that’s something you’ve got to be able to do in this league.”

The game had the feel of a playoff matchup from the start, as Spokane entered the night just three points behind the Americans in the U.S. Division standings. Spokane (10-9-3, 23 points) is now within a point of second-place Tri-City (12-7, 24).

Spokane struck first against Tri-City goaltender Carey Price, who had won seven of his last eight starts against Spokane.

Mitch Wahl got his sixth goal of the season – unassisted – just 1 minute, 44 seconds into the game. The goal came on the Chiefs’ first shot and was only allowed after the referee consulted with the goal judge.

Tri-City responded at the 6:44 mark of the period. Colton Yellow Horn, who already had a pair of two-goal games against Spokane this season, tied the game with a power-play goal. He placed a perfect shot into the top right corner of the net to beat Tokarski glove-side.

The period ended tied at 1 and Spokane retook the lead in the second on Corey Courchene’s second goal of the season. The 20-year-old had played defense for the Chiefs after being acquired from Brandon, but has appeared to be more comfortable at forward.

After the teams played a sloppy game for most of the second period, Courchene put in a rebound of a David Rutherford shot at the 18:27 mark on a play which was started by Chiefs captain Adam Hobson.

The game had been up for grabs at that point, but the goal swung the momentum Spokane’s way. The Chiefs had to hold off a charge by the Americans to open the third period – and Tokarski was up to the challenge on several occasions.

In the first 10 minutes of the third, he made close-range stops on Tri-City’s best scorers: Alex Aldred, and Yellow Horn (twice). He followed that up with two more key stops as the clock wound down to less than 5 minutes and with the Chiefs on the penalty kill. He denied Tanner Gillies on consecutive shots, then Taylor Procyshen.

Spokane got a needed insurance goal with just 2:48 remaining. On the play, West Richland product Seth Compton and Chris Bruton streaked up the ice on a 2-on-1 against Ams defenseman Matt Swaby. As they neared the circles, Compton took the puck from the left side and sent it over to Bruton, who deked Price and put it in the net.

The Americans pulled Price with 1:26 remaining and it paid off with Aldred’s redirected goal off a shot from the point by Juraj Valach with just 54 seconds left.

Chiefs 3, Americans 2

First Period—1, Spo, Wahl 6 1:44; 2, TC, Yellow Horn 12 (Aldred) 13:13 (pp). Second Period—3, Spo, Courchene 2 (Hobson, Rutherford) 18:27 (pp). Third Period—7, Spo, Bruton 5 (Compton) 17:12 (pp); 8, TC, Aldred 6 (Valach, Knudsen) 19:06. .

Power-play Opp.—Tri-City 1 of 9; Spokane 1 of 8. Saves—Tri-City, Price 23 saves. Spokane, Tokarski 25 saves. A—8,351.