Tyler Johnson scored his third career hat trick and moved into second in the Western Hockey League scoring race (both goals and points) to highlight the Spokane Chiefs 8-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds before 5,816 fans at the Arena Wednesday night. (The long box is below, it took a while to sort out the late penalties, had to wait until after deadline.)

The T-Birds, shut out by the Chiefs in Seattle 2-0 the previous night, struck first, just 2:19 into the game. It took the Chiefs until 18:28 to tie it and then they scored five goals in the second while out-shooting Seattle 22-4. Johnson scored three in the second.

Three stars 1, Tyler Johnson   2, Tanner Mort   3, Steve Kuhn . Back in about an hour with the game story.

Chiefs 8, Thunderbirds 2

Spokane – Wednesday

First period

1, Sea, Toomey 6 (Bonsor, Gallimore) 2:19.

2, Spo, Kalus 3 (Vandane, Brassart) 18:28.

Penalties – Kalus, Spo (interference) 6:03; Doty, Sea (interference) 11:24; Doty, Sea (goaltender interference 14:12; Rouse, Sea (hooking) 16:10.

Second period

3, Spo, Kuhn 10 (Miller) 5:27.

4, Spo, Johnson 25 (Uher, Koper) 11:24.

5, Spo, Mort 3 (Kuhn, Miller) 12:25.

6, Spo, Johnson 26 (Uher) 15:31.

7, Spo, Johnson 27 (Uher, Koper) 19:10.

Penalties – Krzyzaniak, Spo (trippining) 1:59.

Third period

8, Spo, Marantz 9 (Brassart, Mort) 6:04.

9, Spo, Vanscourt 3 (Brassart, Vandane) 12:43.

10, Sea, Wells 9, 19:26, sh.

Penalties – Vandine, Spo (holding) 6:47; Toomey, Sea (interference) 10:42; Ramsey, Sea (roughing) 13:59; Toomey, Sea (elbowing) 15:00; Dillon, Sea (fighting major), Kramer, Spo (fighting major) 16:53; Doty, Sea (instigator, fighting major, game misconduct), Kalus, Spo (fighting major), Jacobs, Sea (instigator, fighting major, 2 game misconducts), Brassart, Spo (fighting major), Elliott, Sea (10-minute misconduct), Marantz, Spo (10-minute misconduct) 17:35.

Shots on goal by
Seattle      5-4-5_14
Spokane   17-22-17_56

Goal (shots-saves) — Seattle: Pickard (L, 15-11-2-3) 39-33; Salmon (start of third) 17-14. Spokane: Reid (W, 21-7-2-1) 14-13; Engle (10:42 of third) 1-0.

Power plays (goals-chances) — Seattle 0-3; Spokane 0-8.

Referees — Ryan Bonnett, Brett Iverson. Linesmen — Jim Maniago, Scott Sharun.

Attendance – 5,816.

 Scratches – Seattle: Justin Hickman, Branden Troock, Marcel Neebels, Austin Baecker. Spokane: Jared Cowen, Cole Hamblin, Reid Gow, Collin Valcourt; Anthony Bardaro.

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