Johnson hattrick keys Chiefs romp

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.