Spokane Chiefs bounce back, beat Victoria 3-1

VICTORIA, B.C. – Adam Beckman tallied the go-ahead goal in a second-period surge, and the Spokane Chiefs beat the Victoria Royals 3-1 Wednesday in Western Hockey League action at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena.

The Chiefs (19-10-3-1, 42 points) bounced back from a 5-4 loss at Victoria on Tuesday to win the second of a two-night doubleheader and finish the first half of the season on a high note.

After a scoreless opening period, Spokane got rolling in the second thanks to its first power play against Victoria (17-11-2-0, 36 points) in three games. Leif Mattson scored 7 minutes in for his second goal in as many games.

After Kaid Oliver tied the game on a Royals power play at 9:29, Beckman broke the deadlock at 10:05, 5 seconds into another Chiefs power play. Beckman, the team’s leading scorer with 23 goals, has a six-game scoring streak, during which he’s notched 10 goals.

Ethan Finley added an insurance goal at 17:56 in the second to round out the scoring.

Eli Zummack had two assists, pushing his points streak to 10 games.

Campbell Arnold stopped 24 of 25 shots in net for Spokane.

Spokane enters the Christmas break in third place in the U.S. Division, eights points behind division-leading Everett and six back of second-place Portland.