Spokane goalie Dawson Weatherill made 44 saves to lead the Chiefs to a 3-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Weatherill made 13 saves in the first period, 12 saves in the second period and 19 saves in the third.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The T-Birds, down 2-1, went on the power play late in the third period in front of a crowd of 4,019. Weatherill made several solid saves to keep the Chiefs in front. The T-Birds then pulled goalie Rylan Toth toward the end of the penalty for an extra attacker to try and tie the game. Weatherill again stood tall and denied the T-Birds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Curtis Miske scored an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left in the game to secure the win for Spokane.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Left wing Ryan Gropp made his season debut for the T-Birds after returning from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Two of Toth’s seven saves in the first period were very good. Early in the first period playing four-on-four, Toth stopped defenseman Evan Fiala in all alone with a quick glove save. Fiala had pinched down from the right point and had plenty of time to get a shot off. Then at 13:53 of the first Toth stopped Kailer Yamamoto with the glove on a two-on-one Spokane break. Toth went from the right post to left post to make a lunging save on Yamamoto.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Weatherill stopped 13 Seattle shots in the first, the best being a denial of Nolan Volcan on a breakaway at 17:48 of the period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Spokane went in front 1-0 six minutes into the first period on a goal from Pavel Kousal. Jaret Anderson-Dolan had the only assist on the goal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle tied the game 1-1 at 16:33 of the first. Toth made a save that rebounded right to Sami Moilanen, who curled up the ice through the right circle and then made a stretch pass to Scott Eansor skating up the left wing. Eansor crossed the Spokane blue line, cut inside on a defender and came down the slot, avoiding a check. Eansor beat Weatherill through the legs for his first goal of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The T-Birds outshot the Chiefs 13-7 in the second period and led 26-14 in shots after two periods.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kailer Yamamoto scored from the left circle 40 seconds into the third period to put the Chiefs in front 2-1.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Weatherill stopped Matthew Wedman on a breakaway midway through the third period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle outshot Spokane 45-22 in the game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Toth finished the night with 19 saves on 21 shots.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n