Top line leads Chiefs
KENNEWICK – With finesse and irrefutable firepower, Drayson Bowman, Mitch Wahl and Chris Bruton continue to burn their opponents on the ice.
Their timing couldn’t have been better on Saturday night, when the stakes were especially high.
Coming in with a one-point lead over the Tri-City Americans in the U.S. Division standings, the Chiefs (19-3-1-2) were once again led by their well-constructed top line – getting two goals and three assists from Bruton, two goals and an assist from Bowman and four Wahl helpers in a 5-3 Western Hockey League victory over the Americans at the Toyota Center.
“The line’s going right now,” said Bruton, whose five points were a career-high. “I got two garbage goals tonight, but those are the kind I like to score. We got the win and I had a great night – I’m ecstatic.”
Bowman, the reigning WHL and CHL player of the week, has scored in 11 straight games. The Carolina Hurricanes’ third-round pick is now in sole possession of second place among the league’s leading scorers with 42 points.
“(Our top line) is playing the game properly in all three zones,” Chiefs coach Bill Peters said. “They all bring something different, and you combine all three and it’s obviously a very effective line out there.”
Chiefs’ netminder Dustin Tokarski followed up nicely on a previous shootout loss in Spokane’s Oct. 6 meeting with the Americans (19-6-0-0), finishing with 19 saves – including a handful of critical stops down the stretch to preserve the win.
“All these games are a battle,” said Tokarski, who continues to lead the league with a 1.83 goals against average. “Down the stretch you need your goalie to make big saves, and I guess I came up with a couple there.”
The Americans got on the board 5 minutes, 51 seconds into the first when Kruise Reddick tapped in the rebound of a brilliant Dustin Tokarski save.
Bowman tied things up for Spokane from the low slot at 7:18, redirecting a Bruton pass for his first goal of the night.
The Chiefs followed up at 17:04, taking their first and final lead of the game on a nifty offensive play from Judd Blackwater.
Bruton fed the puck to Reddington, who dished to Blackwater in the neutral zone. The overage forward danced around two Americans defenders before firing a close-range shot past Tri-City netminder Chet Pickard.
Bruton added two insurance goals for Spokane in the second period to take a 4-1 lead. The Chiefs’ captain slipped a shot through Pickard’s five-hole at 1:47 and scored again at 17:19, sorting through a scramble in front of the crease to net his career-high 14th goal of the season.
Tri-City’s Lane Werbowski scored 1:00 into the third for his first-career WHL goal, but Bowman snapped the momentum quickly firing back with his final goal of the night at 2:06.
Americans’ forward Shaun Vey scored the final goal of the night at 7:35.
Jared Spurgeon left the ice early in the second and didn’t return after a hard slide into the boards. He is being looked after for an ankle injury. Richland native Seth Compton was helped off the ice after blocking a hard shot in the third.