Chiefs squeeze in

Timing is everything, and the Spokane Chiefs knew it.

When captain Chris Bruton and the Chiefs watched the Tri-City Americans fall to Everett on Tuesday night, and then Spokane took a victory over Portland on Wednesday, they were well aware of their opportunity – and didn’t miss out on it.

Dustin Tokarski turned aside 24 shots and four different players scored as the Chiefs blanked the Americans for the second time this season in a 4-0 Western Hockey League victory in front of a Friday night crowd of 9,815 at the Arena.

The win, Spokane’s fourth straight, tied the Chiefs (46-14-1-5) with the Americans (47-16-2-2) for first in the U.S. Division. With 98 points, Vancouver – which lost 5-2 to Seattle on Friday – Spokane and Tri-City are in a three-way tie for the Western Conference lead, though Spokane has one game in hand on Tri-City and two on Vancouver (45-15-2-6).

“There’s no better time to win a hockey game than against a team that’s ahead of you in the standings,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “We did a good job leading up to this game this week and we did a good job here tonight.”

The shutout was Tokarski’s sixth of the season – adding to his franchise record in a single season – and his second against the Americans. The Chiefs’ netminder improved to 28-9-0-3 and is third in the league with a 2.06 goals-against average.

“Never mind the shutout,” said Tokarski. “The main thing is the win. It’s just huge. Our D-men were excellent tonight – they let me have a lot of good looks at the puck, which makes it a lot easier.

“Twenty-four shots against a talented team like that, you’ll take that every night.”

The Chiefs got to work right away in the first.

Spokane’s David Rutherford and Tri-City’s Colton Yellow Horn squared off 4 minutes and 24 seconds into the first, a strategic move that took Yellow Horn, the league’s leading goal-scorer (with 46), off the ice for 5 minutes.

The Americans killed off a Jason Reese cross-checking penalty, but put the Chiefs back on the power play 3 minutes later, and Spokane earned a 5-on-3 advantage courtesy of Drew Hoff’s delay of game at 8:12.

Minnesota Wild prospect Justin Falk – whose solid blue-line performance included two assists – dished the puck to Stefan Ulmer, who fired a shot in from the blue line that Ondrej Roman picked up low and one-timed it through Chet Pickard’s five-hole at 8:33.

“Tonight, with the power-play opportunities, we responded,” said Bruton. “Once we had that lead we just took over.”

After the Rutherford-Yellow Horn tilt, the Chiefs skated penalty-free until Drayson Bowman was dinged for hooking at 17:52. Falk and Tyler Johnson led a stingy four-man effort on the penalty kill, and the Chiefs held on to their 1-0 lead through the first period.

The Chiefs killed back-to-back penalties early in the second – with 6 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage for Tri-City – when Jared Cowen and Falk were called for holding at 3:31 and tripping at 5:24, respectively.

“Especially against this team, we just want to be steady,” said Falk. “As long as we’re not giving anything up on our end then the chances for us will come. We took care of our end from the blue line in and limited their chances and played well on the penalty kill.”

At 17:00, Tokarski stopped a 2-on-1 Tri-City rush and Rutherford gained possession in the neutral zone. Rutherford skated around two defenders, went 1-on-1 with Pickard – going forehand to backhand and burying the puck stick side as the Chiefs took a 2-0 lead after two periods.

“It was good speed coming through the middle,” Bruton said of Rutherford’s insurance goal. “The puck kind of bobbled here and there and it kind of bounced up to him and he’s got that lethal scoring touch, so he was able to bury it and that was great for him.”

The Chiefs added two goals in the third period.

West Richland native Seth Compton scored from the slot at 1:29 on a smart Ryan Letts feed from behind the net and Bowman notched his 38th goal of the season, on the power play, at 12:40.

The Chiefs are back in action tonight at the Arena against the Chilliwack Bruins (26-32-4-4).

Ice chips

Rookies Dustin Donaghy, Jace Coyle and Brett Bartman were healthy scratches for Spokane. … Playmaker Mitch Wahl finished with two assists for Spokane. Ulmer, Bowman and Bruton also notched helpers.