Johnson Cashes In Rare Shot

Key play

Not every defenseman can bury the puck in the back of the net on a breakaway.

Before Saturday night, Perry Johnson didn’t know if he was one of them.

“That’s a situation I haven’t really been in a lot,” Johnson said after his breakaway goal with 2:42 to play gave the Spokane Chiefs a 5-4 victory over Val-d’Or in the first round of the Memorial Cup Saturday night at the Arena. “I’ve played five years in this league and I probably had one other breakaway or something like that.”

“I don’t take a ton of chances offensively.”

Johnson’s goal gave Spokane the win in a game it dominated, less than 4 minutes after the Foreurs had rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game.

Beating Val-d’Or goalie Roberto Luongo was anything but a sure thing, even on a breakaway. The first-round draft pick of the New York Islanders faced 54 shots and stopped many of them in spectacular fashion.

“Everything seemed to kind of go in slow motion, to be honest with you,” said Johnson, who had nine goals and 53 points in the regular season and three goals and 10 assists in 18 playoff games.

“I kind of looked around and really even didn’t see anyone beside me. It was kind of a weird feeling. I just kind of zoned in and put it where I wanted. It was kind of strange.

“I wasn’t thinking deke ‘cause the ice was kinda bad. I shot it short side, and luckily it went in.”

Johnson, a native of Edmonton acquired in a preseason trade after leading all Western Hockey League defensemen in scoring last year with 71 points, beat Luongo low to his stick side.

“The only scouting report we had was that he was good, he was pretty big and go upstairs on the rebound,” Johnson said. “He played awesome. He was just incredible… . It looked like he was a mile wide. Luckily, that one got by him.”

Despite giving up a two-goal lead and and four goals on 16 shots, Johnson thought the Chiefs were solid.

“I think we played pretty well defensively,” he said. “We gave up a few chances there and probably weren’t as tough in front of the net on the penalty kill as we should have been. I think that cost us. … This team’s a pretty defensive team. We focus on that quite a bit and it proved to work tonight.”