Chiefs take advantage of power-play chances to dispatch Moose Jaw

The Spokane Chiefs’ power play has been lacking power this far into the young season.

But against the Moose Jaw Warriors – a team that came into Wednesday night’s game with the top penalty kill in the Western Hockey League – the Chiefs made the most of their four power-play opportunities, scoring on two of them in a 2-1 win.

The Chiefs had just five goals on 48 power-play opportunities coming in the game, good for just a 10.4 percent success rate.

Against the Warriors, their power-play fortunes changed.

“I think we’re simplifying (the power play) a little bit,” head coach Dan Lambert said. “When we get an opportunity, we just get pucks to net. I don’t think the goals tonight were anything spectacular other than getting pucks to the net in traffic.”

Hudson Elynuik scored on the first power play by tapping in a loose puck at the side of the net. It was Elynuik’s fourth goal of the season.

Defenseman Nolan Reid scored the winner and his second of the season on the power play with a shot from the point that zipped past Moose Jaw goaltender Brody Willms.

The Chiefs third power play didn’t result in a goal but did feature plenty of scoring chances. The fourth and final power play came in the dying seconds of the game as the Chiefs kept everything in front of them.

Chiefs goaltender Dawson Weatherill made 27 saves on 28 shots. Tristin Langan got the only goal for the Warriors 7 minutes, 44 seconds into the game to give Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead.

“I think it’s fair to say that (Weatherill) has put himself in a situation where he is our No. 1 right now,” Lambert said. “Because of our schedule, it seems like we’ve had a day off between each game which allows him to recuperate and recover.”

Weatherill has started all but one game for the Chiefs and has appeared in all 11 games this season.

“It’s been pretty tough to get used to, but we have a really good schedule with lots of practices to get me ready for games and coach gives us a lot of down time to recover,” Weatherill said.

Weatherill had to be ready against the Warriors. Moose Jaw shot out of the gates and spent most of the first half of the first period in Spokane’s end. Weatherill and his defensemen had trouble with the Warriors’ speed but escaped allowing just one goal.

After the first-period media timeout, the ice leveled out.

“I thought Dawson certainly helped us out,” Lambert said. “Early in the game when we weren’t sharp, he was. (The Warriors) are a good hockey team. They came at us early and I thought after the first period we didn’t give them very many great chances, which was crucial.”

The Chiefs had a crucial penalty kill with 2:28 left in the second period up a goal. Defenseman Tyson Helgesen went off for interference, giving the Warriors a golden opportunity to tie the game at the end of the period.

But the Chiefs’ penalty kill withstood the Warriors push, providing some momentum heading into the third period.

The Chiefs moved to 6-5-0-0 on the season, good for 12 points and third in the U.S. Division.