Spokane Chiefs find needed scoring spark in 6-2 thumping of Lethbridge
With losses in all of their last three games, all coming against U.S. Division opponents that sit ahead of them in the standings, the Spokane Chiefs came into the first of back-to-back home games at the Arena on Friday in need of a jolt.
That was especially the case because starting next week, they will be without three of their best players – defensemen Ty Smith and Filip Kral as well as injured center Jaret Anderson-Dolan – for at least three games and potentially five more as they try to catch on with their national teams for the World Junior Championships in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.
Against Lethbridge, they got that jolt.
They got it from newly acquired center Luc Smith and his old pal Riley Woods – his one-time linemate in Regina, united again after two years apart – two guys who aren’t going anywhere else anytime soon.
Smith scored two early goals and Woods tacked on two more in the Chiefs’ 6-2 victory in their only matchup with the Hurricanes this season.
“Oh yeah. Best friends. It’s like a blast from the past,” Smith said. “We’ve just picked up right where we left off.”
“They’re two 20-year-olds who are friends off the ice, and that typically helps with chemistry,” Chiefs coach Dan Lambert said. “They just complement each other very well.”
Smith has three goals and four assists in five games since the Chiefs acquired him from the rebuilding Kamloops Blazers. On Friday, both of his goals came on Spokane’s power-play unit (it went 3 for 4) that leads the Western Hockey League in efficiency (28.6 percent).
Eli Zummack had a career-high four assists, boosting his season total to 23, second best on the team. On the season, he has assisted on 12 of the team’s 34 power-play goals.
He had the primary assist on Smith’s first goal, a rocketed one-timer from the top of the left circle into a gaping net.
The unfamiliar foe was a bit of a welcome sight after seeing so much of division-leader Everett lately. The Chiefs (15-10-2-2) lost twice to the Silvertips (23-7-1-0) last week and will see them twice more in the coming one: Sunday on the road, Wednesday at the Arena.
After Smith’s opening goal – while fans were still celebrating it – Zummack collected a loose puck in front of the net and slid a pass a few feet to his right, where Jake McGrew slipped the puck past Carl Tetachuk’s left pad for a 2-0 lead less than 5 minutes into the game.
Early in the second period, Smith netted the Chiefs’ third goal on another power play from almost the same spot, this on a nifty back, forth and back again from Ty Smith, who leads all WHL defensemen with 36 assists.
“I can’t say I did anything special on my two goals,” Luc Smith said. “I just kinda hit the puck. Zummy (Zummack) and Smitty (Ty Smith), they both put it in perfect spots for me.”
Later, Woods spun around on the right circle and fired a wrister over Tetachuk’s right arm and into the back of the net. That chased Tetachuk to the bench, having given up four goals on 13 shots.
The Hurricanes (15-9-3-2) scored the next two goals to cut the Chiefs’ lead to 4-2.
But Woods zipped in a shot in the third (his team-leading 23rd of the year), and with 2:27 left Cordel Larson wrapped around the net and got the goal he’d been close to earning earlier – he matched his season high with three shots – to make it 6-2.
The Hurricanes had won six of their previous seven games.
The Chiefs host the Kootenay Ice on Saturday, which is Teddy Bear Toss Night. Fans are encouraged to bring a new or gently used stuffed animal and to toss it onto the ice after the Chiefs’ first goal.