Rockets at home against Tri-City Americans
Twarynski scores twice, including OT winner, as Kelowna defeats Tri-City
A run of freaky Fridays in October at Prospera Place came to an exhilarating end as the Kelowna Rockets edged the Tri City Americans 4-3 in overtime.
The Rockets played home games on each Friday this month, losing the first three before finally dispatching the Americans. The Rockets have now won 14 straight at home against the Ams.
“You saw some character and you saw some hard work,” said Rockets bench boss Jason Smith. “We had some lulls, but we competed. There were some opportunities with rebounds and second and third chances. It was an all-around decent effort.”
The Ams scored a strange one at 7:45 of the first period to take the lead. Rockets goaltender James Porter beat an Ams forechecker to a loose puck along the sideboards in the defensive zone and passed the puck up the middle to Jack Cowell. As Cowell received the pass just inside the blue line, Ams forward Parker Aucoin slashed at his stick, which sent the puck into the empty net from 60 feet away. It stood as a shorthanded tally, the second surrendered by Kelowna this season.
Midway through the frame, Dillon Dube swiped the puck to the boards off a draw deep in the Ams’ zone, which drew a crowd along the wall. The Calgary Flames prospect managed to collect a loose puck from the scrum, turned toward the net and drove a wrister past a screened Dea to tie the affair at 10:28. It was Dube’s fifth of the season.
At 19:10 of the second stanza, Dube kept the puck in the Ams’ zone with a nifty toe-drag inside the blue line. As he moved toward the net, Dube looked off Dea, then slid the puck cross ice to Carsen Twarynski. The Philadelphia Flyers prospect buried a one-timer for his seventh of the campaign to give the Rockets a 2-1 lead.
But the Ams responded with a power-play goal at 2:47 of the third period — Aucoin’s second tally of the night. Then at 7:09, Nolan Yaremko put Tri City up by a goal with an even-strength marker.
When Leif Mattson deflected a Gordie Ballhorn shot past Dea at 17:44 to tie the affair at 3-3, the stage was set for some late-game heroics.
With seven seconds to play, James Hilsendager was sent off for a check from behind in the Rockets’ zone. Then at the buzzer, Erik Gardiner took a Dylan Coghlan shot off the side of his helmet. He stayed down on the ice during much of the break before overtime, but was able to return to the penalty kill as the Rockets played a man short for almost a full two minutes.
During the penalty kill, another shot-block felled Gardiner, but he steadied himself and the Ams could not beat Porter.
When Jordan Topping was handed an interference penalty at 1:34, the Rockets emerged with the man advantage for 1:40.
During the Rockets’ power play, Gardiner sent a long stretch pass up ice to Twarynski, who drilled a shot high glove side at 3:28 of the extra period to send the local faithful home happy.
“Erik competes and plays the game the way you want every guy on your team to play the game. He’ll do anything for the team, whether it’s blocking shots or killing penalties or battling in the corners. He does things the right way,” Smith raved of Gardiner’s efforts.
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna outshot the Americans, 37-31 . . . . Three stars were Dube, Twarynski, Gardiner . . . . The Rockets scratched Kelvin Hair, Konrad Belcourt, Wil Kushnyrik, Colum McGauley and Liam Kindree . . . . Goaltender Brodan Salmond returned to the lineup as Porter’s backup. . . . Announced attendance was 4,539 . . . . The Prince George Cougars make their first visit to Prospera Place tonight (7:05 p.m.).