Rockets remain winless, lose in P.G.

Burned by another import, the Kelowna Rockets are still searching for their first win of the WHL season after four straight losses to open the 2018-19 campaign.

For the second straight game this week — both against the Prince George Cougars — the Rockets battled back only to lose on a go-ahead goal by an import forward.

On Wednesday, at Prospera Place in Kelowna, it was Belarusian sophomore Vladislav Mikhalchuk doing the damage with a late goal, at 16:27 of the third period, to lift the Cougars to a 4-2 road victory.

On Friday night, in Prince George’s home opener, it was Czech rookie Matej Toman netting his first career WHL goal at 8:57 of the final frame as the Cougars held off Kelowna’s late surge to prevail 3-2.

As a result, the defending B.C. Division champion Rockets fell to 0-4-0-0 after previously dropping a home-and-home set against the Kamloops Blazers, 4-1 and 3-1, last weekend.

Truth be told, the Rockets have now lost 12 consecutive games dating back to a four-game, first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Tri-City Americans in late March. Kelowna also lost all four of its preseason games, including two more to Kamloops and one each to Victoria and Prince George.

The good news from Friday was Nolan Foote scored his first goal of his NHL draft year and Conner Bruggen-Cate also lit the lamp for the first time this season after they scored 13 and 18 goals, respectively, last season.

Roman Basran suffered his second loss of the season for Kelowna, stopping 26 shots. The rematch goes tonight in P.G.