Rockets come back, lose in OT
Spokane wins 5-4 for 3rd OT victory against Kelowna this season
The Okanagan Saturday
Fully healthy for the first time all season, the Kelowna Rockets needed all hands on deck in an attempt to beat the only Western Conference team they had yet to defeat this season.
Still, it wasn’t enough, as the trend continued with the Spokane Chiefs scoring their third straight overtime victory against the Rockets, prevailing 5-4 on Kailer Yamamoto’s winner at Prospera Place on Friday night.
The Rockets did well to erase a 3-0 deficit — with the Chiefs chasing starter Michael Herringer early in the second period — but Kelowna couldn’t capitalize on a 4-on-3 power play that carried over to the extra frame.
Yamamoto converted a feed from Hudson Elynuik on an odd-man rush to end the game moments after that penalty expired.
Already playing for their playoff lives, the Chiefs (25-24-6-3) desperately needed that extra point to stay within eight points of the Portland Winterhawks and Victoria Royals for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot with 14 games remaining in the regular season. Portland also won on Friday night and Victoria earned a loser point in a shootout loss at Lethbridge.
The Rockets (33-20-5-0) lacked desperation from the outset despite coming off a thrilling 6-3 come-from-behind win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in a Monday matinee.
Friday seemed to be playing out in similar fashion, with Kelowna again trailing 3-2 after two periods before Calvin Thurkauf scored a pair of equalizers to force overtime. Instead, Spokane stuck to the script after previously downing Kelowna 2-1 in Spokane on Dec. 2 and 3-2 at Prospera Place on Jan. 4.
“It’s kind of disappointing, the whole outcome,” said Thurkauf, who scored his team-leading 28th and 29th goals of the season and was still named the game’s first star in defeat. “It was good that we rallied back, but they scored the winning goal . . . and we took a while to get rolling.”
Kelowna has two games left on this four-game homestand, including a crucial one tonight against the B.C. Division-leading Prince George Cougars (38-17-3-1), 7 p.m. at Prospera Place.
Prince George was idle Friday but has been struggling as of late, just 5-4-0-1 in its last 10 games and having lost four of its last six — including getting swept at home by Kelowna earlier this month — 3-2 on Feb. 3 and 5-1 on Feb. 4.
“It’s going to be a big game,” said Thurkauf. “They are going to come out steaming hot because they are for sure mad that we took four points in their barn. But we are going to play a better game than we did tonight and push back.”
Against Spokane, Nick Merkley, with a goal and an assist, and Nolan Foote also scored for Kelowna, which outshot the visiting Chiefs in every period and 49-21 overall.
Herringer got the hook after Elynuik deked him out on a breakaway 1:30 into the second period, having allowed three goals on nine shots. Brodan Salmond stopped 10-of-11 in relief.
Jaret Anderson-Dolan, matching fellow draft-eligible forward Yamamoto with their team-leading 33rd goals of the season, Ethan McIndoe and Hayden Ostir rounded out the scoring for Spokane, which got 45 saves from Jayden Sittler.
ICE CHIPS: Both teams were fully healthy for Friday’s tilt, with Kelowna RW Tomas Soustal and Spokane RW Rykr Cole both returning from lower-body injuries. Soustal missed the previous seven games, having last played against Portland on Jan. 28 . . . . Prior to Friday’s puck-drop, Thurkauf was named the Andre’s player of the month as selected by the Rockets’ coaching staff.