Spokane Chiefs break through on offense in victory over No. 1 Victoria

The Victoria Royals came into Spokane Friday night as the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League. The Spokane Chiefs were returning from a winless three-game road trip. Advantage Royals, right?

Not exactly. The Chiefs played perhaps their best game offensively and came away with an 8-6 victory.

The Chiefs got goals from five players, including a hat trick by Jake McGrew. They peppered the Victoria goaltenders with 40 shots and chased Royals starter Griffen Outhouse.

Hayden Ostir had two goals as well.

“I felt pretty good right off the hop,” McGrew said. “Coach has been preaching to me to shoot the puck and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

After Victoria’s Regan Nagy gave the Royals a 1-0 lead, McGrew scored halfway through the first period to knot the game at one after finding a loose puck in a scramble in front of Outhouse.

From there, it was one goal after another. Riley Woods tipped in pretty shot-pass from Tyson Helgesen to give the Chiefs a 2-1 lead.

Eli Zummack scored on the power play 50 seconds later, and Hayden Ostir scored his first of the night a little more than a minute later.

Victoria’s Eric Florchuck cut the Chiefs’ lead in half at the 13:35 mark of the first period.

The breathless period ended with Spokane up 4-2 and leading in shots, 18-6.

“I though tonight the line of Zummack, Anderson-Dolan and McGrew was pretty good,” head coach Dan Lambert said. “They were good together.”

The teams traded goals in the second period. Anderson-Dolan scored his second of the season after he poked the puck from the side of the net past Outhouse. Chaz Reddekopp tipped in a shot from the point for Victoria at the 4:11 mark of the second period.

McGrew got his second of the night right as the Chiefs’ power play expired, and Victoria’s Matthew Philips cut into Spokane’s lead with 25 second left in the period.

Ostir scored his second of the night on the power play in the third period, sending Outhouse to the bench. McGrew completed the hat trick at the 3:13 mark of the third period.

Victoria got goals from Florchuk and Tyler Soy to round out the scoring.

The offensive outburst was encouraging for the Chiefs, but they did allow six goals on the defensive end.

“We’re not too proud (of giving up six goals), but at the end of the day, we gave up six to a team that can create offense,” Lambert said.

Outhouse came into the night with a .935 save percentage, which was good for third in the Western Hockey League. After allowing seven goals, he saw his save percentage plummet to .917.

For the Chiefs, getting that offensive burst may have been mostly mental.

“We weren’t thinking, we were just playing more,” McGrew said. “I think that’s a big thing for us, just play the game and shoot the puck.”

The Chiefs came into the night with the league’s worst power play at a 5 percent success rate. They had only two goals on the power play coming in and converted twice out of six tries against the Royals.

Victoria was 1 for 4 on the power play.

Dawson Weatherill got the start in net for Spokane and made 20 saves on 26 shots.