Reece Klassen pitched his first shutout as a member of the Spokane Chiefs, stopping all 25 shots the B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· Rockets could muster on Friday night.
KlassenB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· efforts, with the help of two goals from Adam Beckman and singles from Jake McGrew and Nolan Reid, resulted in a 4-0 win for the host Chiefs (26-17-2-3).
For the Rockets (20-25-4-1), it marked the fifth time this season that they have been blanked.
Goaltenders James Porter and Roman Basran split the game for B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·, allowing two goals each. Porter started and stopped 13-of-15 shots over 36 minutes 49 seconds before being replaced by Basran, who blocked 15-of-17 over 23:11.
Klassen, who was acquired by Spokane from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 2, now has a 2-1-0-1 record with the Chiefs, including a .940 save percentage and a 1.47 goals-against average.
Klassen became available after Lethbridge landed B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· product Liam Hughes from the Seattle Thunderbirds on Jan. 1 in a goaltending shuffle ahead of the WHLB´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· Jan. 10 trade deadline.
The Rockets are back home tonight to face the rival Kamloops Blazers (20-25-3-1) — 7:05 p.m. at Prospera Place — in what should be a barnburner, with playoff positioning at stake in the first of five more head-to-head meetings.
B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· is just one point up on Kamloops for third place in the B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· Division standings, with the Blazers holding a game in hand on the Rockets. B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· is also only one point ahead of Seattle for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Those three teams will be battling for two playoff berths down the stretch. B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ· has 18 games remaining, Kamloops has 19 and Seattle has 20.
Looking upwards, the Rockets trail the second-place Victoria Royals (25-20-1-1) by seven points. Victoria also has three games in hand on B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·.
The Vancouver Giants (32-13-2-1) nearly have the division wrapped up with 20 games to go, leading the Royals by 15 points for first place.
