Rockets staring up at Americans after wild Game 2 result
The Kelowna Rockets now face an uphill post-season battle now after the Tri City Americans waltzed into the Okanagan Valley and collected a pair of wins at Prospera Place.
It has so far played out as a crazy first round playoff series, especially on Saturday when the teams combined for 16 goals a compelling contest culminating in a 9-7 Tri City victory.
“It wasn’t the typical playoff game, that’s for sure,” said Rockets head coach Jason Smith. “I think we competed and worked fairly hard from start to finish, but there were some errors with the puck and almost every mistake ended up in the net.
“Sometimes that happens — it’s about how we bounce back and move forward.”
The Rockets jumped to an early lead, scoring twice in the game’s first minute on goals by Kole Lind and Kyle Topping. When Cal Foote made it 3-0 at the three minute mark, the 5,560 in attendance must have felt the rout was on and made their point vociferously when Americans head coach Mike Williamson called a timeout to address his troops.
“We didn’t really say much.” Williamson said of the team meeting. “We were trying to get the guys focused and making sure we didn’t try to hit home runs. Singles and doubles were probably going to give us an opportunity to get back in the game.”
Sticking with sports analogies, on a night the Rockets needed a late field goal to win, the Americans responded after the timeout with a grand slam of sorts, scoring four times before the end of the first period to take an unlikely 43 lead.
Michael Rasmussen and Nolan Yaremko each scored twice with one apiece on the power play. The Ams first two goals came with the man advantage and to that point in the series, Tri City had scored on its first five consecutive power play opportunities.
All told, Tri City outshot the Rockets 20-7 in the first frame, chasing Rockets starter James Porter at 16:09.
“We just made mental mistakes,” said Lind of the whacky first period. “I think there were penalties we shouldn’t have taken and obviously we’ve got to keep our sticks down. I think we’ve had three or four high-sticking penalties in these first two games.
The Rockets carried the play during the second stanza, outscoring Tri City 3-1 to take a 6-5 lead into the final frame.
Nolan Foote, Lind with his second power play tally and Kaedan Korczak hit the score sheet for the Rockets, while Isaac Johnson replied for the Ams.
Korczak’s unassisted effort at 15:01 provided a glimpse of the rookie rearguard’s skill and determination. The young 17-year-old circled the net in his own end, skated the length of the ice, dumped the puck into the attacking zone, then beat veteran defenceman Anthony Bishop to the puck at the goal line. When Korczak shoved the puck over Dea’s pad inside the post, it spelled the end of the night for the 20-year-old goaltender, who was yanked in favour of Beck Warm.
The Americans outplayed Kelowna in the third period, outscoring the hosts 4-1. Morgan Geekie scored twice in the third, Johnson added his second and Yaremko completed his hat trick with an empty net goal.
Carsen Twarynski countered with a power play goal for Kelowna at 11:37, his first of the series which gave the Rockets a short-lived 7-6 lead.
“I certainly thought we were capable of competing and I like our hockey team,” Williamson said when asked if h e had envisioned taking a 2-0 series lead. “Kelowna has a good team and they’re tough in this building. We were fortunate to get these wins and I think the series could easily be reversed.
“But we’ll take it. We know there’s a lot of hockey to be played and a lot of experience over there. We’ll enjoy this right now but there’s a lot of work to do.”
The Rockets will get back to work today after an off-day, Sunday.
Lind, who earned a stick tap for hanging in with the media after the tough loss, commented on what he has seen from the Americans through two games.
“I think the biggest thing they’re doing is winning the battles in front of the net and finding loose pucks, where we’re not really getting those second chances,” he said. “I don’t know how many rebound goals or back door tap ins they had out there.
“I think obviously if we can’t find the puck, take away their sticks and I think we’ll work on that at practice. They came here and stole two from us, so we’re going to go there and do the same.”
Should Kelowna earn at least a split in Kennewick this week, the teams will return to Kelowna Saturday for game five, a 7:05 p.m. start at Prospera Place.
ICE CHIPS…Tri City outshot Kelowna, 3926...Three stars were Cal Foote, Rasmussen and Yaremko… Foote scored once and added three assists on the night… Rasmussen, Yaremko, Morgan Geekie and Isaac Johnson collected four points each…Kyle Topping chipped in with a goal and two assists for Kelowna… Ams defenceman Dylan Coghlan had three assists and managed a plus-six rating… Porter stopped 12 of 16 shots on the night, while Salmond made 18 saves. Dea blocked 10 of 16 attempts, while Warm stopped nine of 10 shots.