Sam Oremba scores two goals, Spokane Chiefs edge Red Deer 3-2

RED DEER, Alberta – Sam Oremba scored two goals – one on a penalty shot – and the Spokane Chiefs edged the Red Deer Rebels 3-2 in a Western Hockey League game at Marchant Crane Centrium on Saturday.

Chiefs goalie Linus Vieillard made 22 saves for his second win of the season.

Midway though the third, Oremba used his speed to earn a penalty shot while on the penalty kill. He skated in left-to-right, deked Red Deer goalie Chase Wutzke with a forehand-backhand move and lifted it past the out-of-position goalie to make it 3-1 with just under 11 minutes to play.

Red Deer went back on the power play a little later but the Chiefs (6-4-0-0) killed it off without a scoring chance.

Red Deer (2-8-0-0) pulled its goalie with 2:15 to go, and moments later Chiefs forward Chase Harrington was called for tripping – the sixth minor penalty of the game against the visitors – giving the Rebels a 6-on-4 opportunity with 1:57 left. Vieillard made several tough saves, but Talon Brigley scored on a backdoor shot with 22 seconds left.

The Rebels kept their goalie on the bench, but the Chiefs held on for the win.

Red Deer went 2 for 6 with the man advantage and the Chiefs went 0 for 2 in a battle of the two worst power plays in the league. The Chiefs are now 3 for 37 (8.1%) for the season; Red Deer 5 for 42 (11.9%).

Oremba started the scoring at 8:51 of the first period, banging home a backhanded rebound past Wutzke from a long-range shot by Mathis Preston for his third goal of the season.

Red Deer’s Landon MacSwain tied it early in the second period with a power play goal, his third goal in his last three games.

With a little more than five minutes left in the second, Coco Armstrong corralled an offensive zone face-off, then delivered a pass from behind the net to Chase Harrington in the slot, where the draft-eligible forward whipped it past Wutzke for his third goal of the year.

The Chiefs play the fifth of their season-high six-game road trip in Calgary on Sunday before wrapping up the trip on Tuesday in Edmonton.