Victoria caps back-to-back wins over Chiefs

VICTORIA, B.C. – There are better ways to spend a weekend island cruise.

The Spokane Chiefs, the Western Hockey League’s hottest team heading into the weekend, found their two-day trip to Vancouver Island anything but enjoyable.

Travis Brown and Austin Carroll scored 3 minutes and 8 seconds apart in the second period Saturday to ignite the Victoria Royals to a 4-2 win over the Chiefs at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Chiefs had won seven consecutive games before Friday’s 8-1 loss to the Royals.

Until Brown’s goal, Spokane held a 2-1 lead courtesy of first-period goals by Adam Helewka, his team-high 20th, and Kailer Yamamoto, his 16th. Yamamoto and Markson Bechtold assisted on Helewka’s goal at 14:22, and Helewka and Nick Charif assisted on Yamamoto’s power-play goal at 19:30.

Victoria (20-18-2-1) dominated the second period, outshooting the Chiefs 14-5 while taking a 3-2 lead. Tyler Soy added an empty-netter with 46 seconds left in the game, about a minute after the Chiefs pulled goalie Garret Hughson.

Hughson finished with 27 saves, one more than Victoria’s Coleman Vollrath.

The Royals, who swept the Chiefs from the playoffs last season, lead the season series 2-1. The teams’ last regular-season game is set for Jan. 30 at the Arena.

Spokane (21-14-3-0, 45 points) fell five points behind first-place Everett in the U.S. Division. The Chiefs are two points ahead of third-place Portland, which visits the Arena on Wednesday and Friday.

Spokane is 12-7-1-0 on the road.