Mitch Gillam made 23 saves to help lead the Chilliwack Chiefs to a 3-1 road victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks Saturday night.
The win was the second straight for the Chiefs who improved to 6-5-0-1 on the season. With the loss the Silverbacks fall to 3-8-0-3.
After blowing a three goal lead and losing in overtime to Merritt the night before, the Silverbacks got the start they wanted in this game. Devin Muller, taking advantage of some sloppy play by the Chiefs in their own zone took just 38 seconds to open the scoring when he knocked a loose puck behind Chiefs goaltender Mitch Gillam.
It was the tenth time in twelve games the Chiefs have given up the first goal of the game.
Chiefs forward Garrett Forster, the second star in the Chiefs previous night’s 4-3 overtime win over Trail made the key play that led to the tying goal. With 11 minutes left in the opening period Forster picked off a Silverbacks clearing attempt and put a backhand shot off the crossbar behind Salmon Arm goaltender Kurt Williams. The puck ricocheted all the way to David Thompson at the blue line who wasted no time in wiring home his second goal of the season.
In the second period it was the Chiefs turn to get an early goal. Kit Sitterley from a bad angle banked the puck in off of Williams for his sixth goal of the season. Spencer Graboski made a nice play to keep the puck in at the blue line to earn the lone assist.
Chris Blessing finished the scoring with his first goal of the season with 12:30 to go in the second. Blessing was sent in all alone on a great feed from Trevor Hills and made no mistake beating Williams high on the glove side. Shay Laurent also assisted on the goal.
Final shots in the game favored the Chiefs by a margin of 31-24.
Chilliwack’s next action is Wednesday night when they host the Surrey Eagles at 7pm. It’s the only visit of the season by the Eagles to Prospera Centre.
Notes: Salmon Arm’s leading scorer Morgan Zulinick missed the game due to illness…Chiefs defenseman Matthew Hutchinson did not play after being suspended for one game for being involved in a secondary altercation in Friday night’s game vs Trail…attendance was 773…Chilliwack is now 7-5-0-0 all-time and 2-0-0-0 this season vs Salmon Arm.
