Kelowna Rockets suffer double-loss weekend

The Kelowna Rockets two-game win streak was snapped by the Kamloops Blazers, who handed the Rockets an 8-1 loss on Friday night at the Sandman Centre.

It was the Rockets first time playing the Blazers since prior to the trade deadline. With a lineup featuring nine NHL draft picks, the Blazers fastpaced play was able to jump out to a four-goal lead through the first frame of action.

Then Saturday night the Kelowna Rockets fell 7-2 to the Kamloops Blazers at Prospera Place in Kelowna.

The Rockets found themselves in penalty trouble. While they were able to kill off five of the seven power play opportunities Kamloops had, Rockets head coach Kris Mallette said that it doesn’t help his team find a groove.

“Penalties gave them momentum,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette in his postgame interview. “It was a lot of minutes that guys had to sacrifice, it’s wasted minutes. Five-on-five is a stretch for us enough with this group, playing against a team that has a lot of speed and depth, to give them a bunch of free looks five-on-four really put us behind the eight ball. It’s a tough rhythm to get into, you have certain guys you play in those situations and then there’s going to be a lot of guys sitting on the bench. Our group has to figure that out if we want to have anything moving forward and especially in the playoffs.”

With Talyn Boyko out injured after suffering an injury after a Blazer collided with him in the first period of Saturday night’s game, Jari Kykkanen made the start for Kelowna. He faced a careerhigh 56 shots on goal, stopping 49 of them.

“Jari made a lot of really, really, really good saves for us and he did the same thing last night.”

The Rockets will host the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday, March 8 at Propera Place, puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.

It will also be a Fan First Menu night with $2 hot dogs and $5-$6 options from Blue Ribbon. The Fan First Menu is available at all Monday to Wednesday regular season games.

Single-game tickets for all Rockets home games are on sale at Select Your Tickets. Tickets can be purchased online through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office, or by phone at 250-762-5050.