Rockets trying to stay alive against Thunderbirds
Seattle leading series 3-2, but Kelowna has won all even-numbered games
Goaltending and special teams — often the two deciding factors in a playoff series.
The Kelowna Rockets will likely need to get the better of both tonight to force a seventh-and-deciding game in the Western Conference final.
For the first time in these WHL playoffs, the Rockets will be facing elimination when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds for Game 6. Puck drop is 5 p.m. at Prospera Place.
“The focus is on winning one game at home in our building. We need to trust that the work we’ve put in all year has prepared us for this situation,” Rockets head coach Jason Smith said on the team’s website.
In Game 5 at Kent, Wash., on Friday, the Thunderbirds had the edge in special teams — both teams scored three power-play goals, but Seattle also got one shorthanded — and their rookie goaltender, Carl Stankowski, outperformed Kelowna’s over-ager Michael Herringer by making 37 saves to his 19, resulting in a 5-3 victory for Seattle.
one Herringerof Kelowna’shad been top fairly performers consistent through and two rounds of this year’s post-season in dispatching Kamloops in six games and Portland in five. He has also shown the ability to bounce back from adversity throughout his career, most notably in last year’s first-round win over Kamloops when Herringer was pulled on two occasions but responded with a 42-save shutout and then backstopped a 2-1 overtime victory in that series-clincher, a high-pressure Game 7. The Rockets will be counting on Herringer to rebound and at least match Stankowski’s efforts tonight. Discipline will also be crucial, with Seattle boasting the league’s best power play at 37.5 per cent. Kelowna had the league’s best penalty kill coming into the third round, but it has dropped to second overall at 83.6 per cent due to the Thunderbirds converting 7-of-19 man advantages through five games (36.8 per cent). Kelowna’s power play has been clicking too, with at least a goal in each of the five games, going 9-for-35 in this series (25.7 per cent) and leading the playoffs in total power-play goals with 23. Seattle is second with 18, but Kelowna has had 83 chances to Seattle’s 48. Game 5 turned into a special-teams contest — Kelowna was 3-for-10, Seattle 3-for-8 — and the Rockets will want to avoid a repeat of that since Seattle’s top player, Mathew Barzal, does his best work with the man advantage.
After Kelowna overcame a 2-0 deficit to start Game 5, Seattle pulled away thanks to Barzal setting up three straight power-play goals with primary assists to make it 5-2.
Barzal is a finalist for the WHL’s player of the year award, but Kelowna’s best players have been producing throughout this series as well.
Calvin Thurkauf is on an eight-game point streak and has a series-best nine points (three goals, six assists) — one more than Barzal (eight assists) — while Nick Merkley and Dillon Dube both extended their point streaks to seven games in Friday’s defeat.
Reid Gardiner got back on the scoresheet in that game too, registering an assist after being held pointless in Games 3 and 4 following a nine-game point streak — including the overtime winner in Game 2 — that has Gardiner leading the league in both goals (15) and points (28) through 16 games.
Kelowna’s top line of Thurkauf, Gardiner and Merkley have combined for nine goals and 21 points in this series. By comparison, Seattle’s top line of Barzal, Keegan Kolesar and Ryan Gropp have six goals and 18 points through five games.
Merkley became the Rockets’ franchise leader in career playoff scoring with a twopoint performance in Game 4 — surpassing Tyson Baillie, who produced 63 points in 64 post-season games from 2012-2016. Merkley’s goal in Game 5 was his 65th point in his 56th career playoff game.
As for the keys to victory in Game 6, Smith said: “We have to be better on the forecheck. No pause, no hesitation. We also need to be harder around their net, and focus more on discipline.”
If necessary, Game 7 would go Tuesday back in Kent.
In the Eastern Conference final, the Regina Pats prevailed 5-3 on Friday to also take a 3-2 series lead over the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who host Game 6 tonight.