Luke Toporowski sparks Spokane Chiefs’ win over Kelowna with two first-period goals

KELOWNA, British Columbia – Luke Toporowski scored two first-period goals and added an assist on Jake McGrew’s winning goal in the third period to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 5-4 victory over the Kelowna Rockets in Western Hockey League play on Wednesday night.
Lassi Thompson scored 3 minutes, 38 seconds into the game to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead. Toporowski knotted the score 84 seconds later and gave the Chiefs (27-17-2-4, 60 points) a 2-1 lead when he scored on a power play at 15:08 in the first.
Alex Swetlikoff pulled the Rockets (21-26-4-1, 47) even with a power-play goal at the 2:37 mark of the second period. The Chiefs regained the lead less than 2 minutes later on Connor Gabruch’s first career goal and stretched their advantage to 4-2 when Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored with 12:55 remaining in the period.
Swetlikoff’s second power-play goal got Kelowna within 4-3, but McGrew scored what proved to be the winner 23 seconds into the final period with assists from Toporowski and Matt Leduc.
Spokane remained in third place in the U.S. Division, three points ahead of Tri-City, and trails second-place Portland by nine.
The Chiefs’ second win over Kelowna in five days marks their first road win since winning at Kootenay on Jan. 5. Eli Zummack picked up an assist to run his point streak to six straight games.
Spokane opens a three-game homestand on Friday against Victoria.