Rockets meet 1st place Cougars after Friday’s crushing overtime loss
Kelowna beats Prince George 5-2 in 3rd win this month over division leader
Michael Herringer was better, Nick Merkley continued to be real good and the Kelowna Rockets benefitted from both their efforts in beating the Prince George Cougars 5-2 on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
Merkley scored for the third straight game — on a shorthanded breakaway in the second period, giving him eight goals in his last 10 games — and Herringer made 25 saves, including a couple timely stops on Nikita Popugaev before the Rockets pulled away.
Those stops were of the utmost importance for Herringer, who bounced back after getting pulled the previous night when he allowed three goals on nine shots in Friday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting Spokane Chiefs.
Saturday marked Kelowna’s third straight win over Prince George — and second in lopsided fashion, outshooting the Cougars 43-27 and also hitting five posts — after losing the first four meetings in their season series, which concludes here on March 1.
“We’re looking at every game like it’s a playoff-type atmosphere,” said Merkley, the game’s first star after being the second star in Friday’s defeat. “If we line up against these guys, it’s good to battle back from that rough start (to the season series).
“It’s good to bounce back after (Friday) night. Good to see the character again and hopefully we can carry that on moving forward.”
The momentum has certainly swung in Kelowna’s favour, with the Rockets also sweeping the Cougars 3-2 and 5-1 in P.G. earlier this month.
The Cougars (38-18-3-1) have been reeling in general (4-5-0-1 in their last 10) and now only lead the B.C. Division by four points over the Kamloops Blazers (35-19-2-4) and seven over the third-place Rockets (34-20-5-0), who still have a game in hand.
“(The Rockets are) a team that works really hard and they’ve got some skill up front. But, again, we’re just not doing the right things that we feel we need to do to win,” said Cougars coach Richard Matvichuk, whose team is in Kamloops tonight and faces the Blazers five more times over its last 12 games.
“We don’t worry about who our opponent is, we worry about our game . . . and we do feel if we have (a full team) playing the way we should, we’ve been pretty successful doing it.”
Pushed about the parity in the B.C. Division, with the Victoria Royals (32-23-4-1) no slouch either, Matvichuk acknowledged what’s at stake down the stretch.
“(Tonight) is a must two points for us,” said the first-year bench boss, “but if we’re not willing to put the work in and willing to win the little puck battles, you’re not going to beat any team in this league. We have to get back to working first and our skill will follow up after.
“It’s crazy, you talk to anybody in the Canadian Hockey League and they say this is the toughest division in the country. It’s going to be crazy. You look at the four teams and unfortunately someone gets bounced out in the first round.”
Tomas Soustal, with his 16th goal of the season in his second game back after missing seven with a lower-body injury, Devante Stephens, James Hilsendager, and Calvin Thurkauf, with his teamleading 30th into an empty net, also scored for the Rockets.
However, it has been Merkley stirring Kelowna’s drink offensively as of late.
“He’s been playing well. His pace has picked up, his compete level, and I think he’s shooting the puck more now than he was earlier on,” Rockets coach Jason Smith said of Merkley, who’s up to 19 goals and 49 points in 50 games this season and has been enjoying success alongside Thurkauf and trade-deadline acquisition Reid Gardiner, who hit two of those posts Saturday.
“There were times, earlier on, when (Merkley) was turning down shots and maybe holding on to the puck a little bit longer,” Smith continued.
“He’s getting it off his stick quicker now, or he’s passing it and creating an opportunity for somebody else.
“That line has generated a lot of chances lately and they’re obviously a big part of our plans going forward.”
Colby McAuley scored both goals for Prince George and Nick McBride finished with 38 saves.
The Rockets close out this four-game homestand (2-0-1-0) on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oil Kings (20-34-4-1).
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna scratched D Konrad Belcourt, LW Conner Bruggen-Cate and RW Leif Mattson, who was replaced in the lineup by C Kyle Topping for Kelowna’s only change from Friday . . . . Prince George scratched D Brendan Guhle (lower-body, week-to-week), LW Tanner Wishnowski (upper-body, week-to-week) and LW Jackson Leppard.