SPOKANE聽 3
VICTORIA聽 1
After losing to the Victoria Royals on Tuesday night, the Spokane Chiefs were hungry to get back on track on Wednesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, and their two NHL draft picks made sure they did just that.
Adam Beckman, drafted in the third round by the Minnesota Wild in the summer, had the game-winning goal midway through the second period and defenceman Filip Kral, a 2018 fifth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, added two assists to pace the Chiefs to a 3-1 victory over the Royals in front of 3,260 fans.
The Royals (17-11-2-0), who were 10-5 on home ice heading into Wednesday鈥檚 game, didn鈥檛 take a single penalty in Tuesday鈥檚 victory, but it was a different story Wednesday.
The Chiefs got four power plays, and made good on two of them, including Leif Mattson鈥檚 goal seven minutes into the second period that opened the scoring. Mattson banged home a shot from Kral that rang off the post behind Royals netminder Shane Farkas.
After Kaid Oliver tied the game at the 9:30 mark of the second with a power-play goal of his own, back came the Chiefs again. And this time it was Beckman scoring on the power play, his 23rd goal of the season. The Saskatoon native has now scored in six straight games.
Jack Finley added an insurance marker for Spokane (19-10-3-1) with two minutes left in the second.
Farkas finished with 27 saves, while Campbell Arnold turned aside 24 Royals shots to pick up the victory.
The Royals were 1-for-5 with their power play.
Wednesday鈥檚 game was the last one before the Christmas break for both teams. The Royals are now off until Dec. 27 when they welcome the Vancouver Giants to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
ICE CHIPS: Both teams were missing key players Wednesday. Royals captain Phillip Schultz is with Team Denmark at the Tier II world junior championship in Belarus, while the Chiefs were again without blue-liner Ty Smith. The 2018 New Jersey Devils first-round draft pick is with Team sa国际传媒 at the 2020 world junior championship in the Czech Republic.
