Early goals carry Victoria Royals past Spokane Chiefs

VICTORIA, British Columbia — Tyler Soy scored twice in the first 8 minutes, 2 seconds Wednesday to vault the Victoria Royals to a 4-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs in Western Hockey League play at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena.

Soy’s first goal, at 1:54, was a rebound past Garret Hughson.

Ethan Price and Dante Hannoun scored second-period goals to increase the Royals’ lead to 4-0. Hannoun, who scored on a backhander, had Victoria’s only goal when Spokane won 3-1 on Tuesday.

The Chiefs (3-2-0-0) finally broke through midway through the second period as Keanu Yamamoto scored off an assist from Markson Bechtold. Yamamoto’s shot from the left side was his second goal of the season.

Spokane had won two straight, handing the Royals (5-1-0-0) their first loss of the season 24 hours earlier.

Spokane finished 0 for 5 on the power play. Victoria was 1 for 2, including Price’s goal at 47 seconds of the second period after Hudson Elynuik’s high sticking penalty.

Victoria outshot Spokane 31-28.

Victoria’s Coleman Vollrath turned away 27 of 28 shots.

Hughson stopped 27 of 31 shots for Spokane. The Chiefs had started Tyson Verhelst in goal the previous two games.

The Chiefs, who have played four consecutive road games, will travel to Portland on Friday and Everett on Saturday. Spokane’s next home game is Oct. 16 against Prince Albert.

Through five games, Spokane’s leading scorer is Kailer Yamamoto with one goal and a team-best eight assists for nine points. Dominic Zwerger has a team-high four goals and four assists for eight points, followed by captain Jason Fram (six points), who has three goals and three assists.