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Spokane Chiefs

Spokane Chiefs throttle Victoria 6-1, learn first-round playoff opponent

By Kevin Dudley The Spokesman-Review

It’s not possible to win twice in one night, but in one way, that’s exactly what the Spokane Chiefs did Saturday in front of 10,359 fans at the Arena.

First, the Chiefs beat the visiting Victoria Royals 6-1, which clinched no worse than the No. 3 spot in the U.S. Division. Next, the Prince George Cougars beat the Portland Winterhawks, moving Spokane within three points of the No. 2 team in the U.S. Division. Spokane has a game in hand.

The Chiefs play four more regular-season games – three on the road – and while they are guaranteed to play Portland in the first round of the playoffs, home-ice advantage is still up for grabs.

As for the win over Victoria, the Chiefs got points from nine players. Adam Beckman had two goals and two assists, and Filip Kral had a goal and two assists. Ethan McIndoe added a goal and an assist in the win. Bailey Brkin made 21 saves.

“(Beckman) was really good tonight,” head coach Dan Lambert said.

“I thought he was competing and getting in on pucks.”

The four-point night was a career best for Beckman, a 17-year-old playing his first Western Hockey League season.

“I got a lot of good chances tonight,” Beckman said. “I was lucky to put them in and the guys made some great plays to get me those chances.”

The first great play came in the first period from defenseman Matt Leduc, who put a nice shot on net in a perfect spot for Beckman to deflect it past Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse.

Beckman’s second goal came at 9 minutes, 18 seconds of the third period on the power play.

Beckman had a shot at a hat trick, but he decided to dish the puck off to Ty Smith, who buried his seventh of the season at 16:10 of the third.

“I try not to think about (hat tricks) too much,” Beckman said. “Smitty was wide open so I thought I’d give it to him, and he ripped it in.”

Beckman’s two goals give him 29 on the season.

Ethan McIndoe got the scoring going just 1:59 into the game when he put a rebound past Outhouse. It was McIndoe’s 14th goal of the season.

Victoria’s lone goal came after Leduc turned the puck over in his zone, leading to Brandon Cutler’s unassisted goal at 7:06 of the second.

The Chiefs were up 2-1 in the second when they had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:36, but could not find the net despite a number of chances. Instead of wilting, Jaret Anderson-Dolan made sure the failed opportunity didn’t come back to bite them.

Anderson-Dolan scored shortly after the power play ended to give Spokane some insurance. It was his 17th of the season.

Anderson-Dolan has at least one goal in his past seven games. He’s coming on strongly after being away from the team at times during the season because of his NHL stint, a broken wrist and the World Juniors.

“His injury that he had certainly was affecting him a little when he got back, but now he’s contributing in a lot of ways,” Lambert said. “He’s physical, he’s skating and he’s scoring, so those are real nice things to have from your captain.

The Royals turned to Brock Gould in net in the third period, but it didn’t make a difference as Spokane scored three times on 11 shots. The Royals were missing five injured players, including their leading scorer, Kaid Oliver. Victoria used only 11 forwards.

The Chiefs have road games this week at Kamloops (Tuesday), Kelowna (Wednesday) and Tri-City (Friday) before the season finale at home March 16.