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Two losses and an unimpressive narrow win leading up to Friday’s Kootenay International Junior Hockey League game against the Kamloops Storm didn’t sit well with Kelowna Chiefs head coach Ken Law.
And scoring just three times on 22 power-play opportunities during that span was a cause for concern . . . and a shakeup.
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A new-look line and PP alignment produced immediate positive results as the Chiefs found the net three times on the six occasions they had the man advantage to notch a tidy 6-0 win over the visiting Storm.
Still comfortably in first place in the KI's Bill Ohlausen Division — eight points ahead of the Summerland Steam, who have played four more games — the Chiefs improved to 15-3 on the season while the Storm — who they edged 4-3 a week earlier in Kamloops — fell to 5-15-0-0-1.
Rookie Kaden Meszaros benefitted most from Law’s lineup shuffle last night, moving up to the top unit with the team’s two leading point-getters in Kayson Gallant (35 points) and Porter Dawson (31 points).
Not only did the 18-year-old Kelowna minor hockey product score his fourth goal of the season, but he also helped set up three Chiefs goals, two of them coming on the power play.
“Kaden fit in nicely — just like we thought he would after watching him playing with Kayson and Porter when we put them together in practice on Wednesday,” said Law. “Kaden is a good puck distributor and so are the other two. You could see right away that they knew where each other were and they moved the puck very well all night against Kamloops.”
“We wanted to attack more in the middle, and with Kaden playing on his off-wing and coming off the wall so well, it filled the bill.”
Linemates Gallant and Dawson both picked up three points, the latter opening the scoring just 19 seconds into the game and closing it out with his second midway through the third period. Gallant, who had two assists, scored his team-best 19th goal seven minutes into the second period on the power play.
Defenceman Isaac Dutka, a West Kelowna product in his third season with the Chiefs, chipped in with a power-play goal as well and helped set up goals by Gallant and Dawson.
The other Kelowna power-play goal came from Ryan Antonakis in a 2-0 first period.
Michael Toole was perfect in goal for the Chiefs, stopping all 25 Storm shots he faced, several of which were exceptional. The win was his fifth in six decisions and his first shutout lowered his goals-against average to a stingy 2.35 and his save percentage to .913.
The Calgary native’s performance also helped sooth Law’s minor and short-lived testiness.
"Michael has been real solid for us when he’s been called upon,” said Law. “He shook off a couple of bad bounces on him early in the game and settled in nicely with some difficult stops on a couple of partial breakaways and he made some glove saves on shots that were labeled for the corners.
“It’s nice to know we have a guy who’s pushing our No. 1.”
That would be Braeden Mitchell, who is 10-2 on the season, but was in Penticton on Friday as a backup for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in their 6-3 B.C. Hockey League loss to the Vees.
He’ll be back in the Chiefs’ net tonight when they play host to the Princeton Posse (9-7-1-0-2).
Overall, Law is looking for more of what he saw on Friday when the Posse rides to town.
“We definitely play better when we’re active and moving our feet,” said Law, shortly after socializing with his players’ parents on Family Night at the Rutland Arena. “And the guys came together as a cohesive unit — it shouldn’t be a surprise how well that works.”
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