Rockets topple Giants again
The Kelowna Rockets beat the Vancouver Giants at Prospera Place on Wednesday night.
In other news, the sun will rise in the east and the Okanagan winter will remain relatively mild.
The Rockets withstood an early thirdperiod barrage from the Giants and held on for a 4-1 victory in front of 4,807 spectators. It snapped a two-game skid for the Rockets, who beat the Giants for a whopping 26th consecutive time at home.
Kelowna head coach Jason Smith has no explanation for his organization’s dominance over Vancouver, which hasn’t won at Prospera since March 19, 2011.
“I’ve been on the other side of it, where you were playing in a building where you couldn’t have success,” said Smith, the former NHL defenceman. “Is there any answer to it? I don’t really know. You still have to go out and play.
“You’re starting every game at 0-0, and how it ends up is based on the play and the effort the guys put in. Sometimes there’s some breaks. We got a post and a reviewed goal that wasn’t a goal. We got some breaks that really helped us tonight.”
The Giants entered the third period trailing 2-1 and came close to tying it during a goal-mouth scramble 1:09 in, but there was no video evidence the puck crossed the line. Midway through the frame, Vancouver’s Jared Dmytriw clanged one off the post, but the Giants would get no closer.
The Rockets improved to 33-16-3-1 and moved two points up on the Victoria Royals, who fell 8-5 to Portland on Wednesday, atop the B.C. Division. The Rockets will play in Victoria on Friday and Saturday before hosting the Royals on Monday afternoon in what could be a decisive — and tense — three-game set.
“There’s going to be lots of energy,” Smith said. “I’m sure there’ll be some animosity, and it’ll be exciting for our guys to raise their play to that challenge.”
Rockets winger Kole Lind, who had his 20-game point streak snapped on Saturday in an 8-2 loss to Everett, scored 3:10 into the game, and Conner Bruggen-Cate put the hosts up 2-0 in the second after converting a rare shorthanded 2-on-0 with Leif Mattson.
The Giants, who were playing without leading scorer Ty Ronning (illness) and lost top defenceman Dylan Plouffe (right leg) in the first period, didn’t let that adversity get them down.
They tilted the ice in their favour over the last half of the second period and Davis Koch got the visitors on the board with 46.9 seconds left.
Carsen Twarynski and Dillon Dube, into an empty net, rounded out the scoring for the Rockets.
“It was a good bounce-back effort after a tough weekend,” said Lind, who also had an assist. “It’s a good tuneup for this weekend.”
Rockets starter Brodan Salmond didn’t have to make many saves, including just two in the first period, but a handful of them were simply sensational. He finished with 25 stops to improve to 7-2 in his career against the Giants.