Kelowna Rockets fans had better begin to think long and hard about sauntering into Prospera Place well after puck drop.
You see, the home side has begun to make it a habit to score early and often. Another case in point – a pair of goals in the first 2:08 last night as the Rockets would proceed to hand the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 7-4 loss.
“We’ve gone through a stretch of games here at home where we scored early in most of them, said Rockets head coach Jason Smith. “It’s a good momentum builder for our group.”
It wasn’t necessarily as easy as it could have been for the Rockets, now 12-6-2-1 on the campaign.
After rookie forward Liam Kindree tipped in a Cal Foote point shot 40 seconds into the tilt, Leif Mattson turned a sloppy giveaway by the Hurricanes in the defending zone into a power play.
Bang!
2-0.
But the pesky Hurricanes (7-11-1), losers of six straight coming into the game, rode the composure and persistence of 20-year-old Giorgio Estephan and actually took a brief 3-2 lead.
A late first period marker by Jake Elmer narrowed the gap to 2-1, then Estephan would score twice in the second before the period was halfway into the books.
Estephan, who was playing in his 300th career WHL game (277 regular season and 23 playoff), must have enjoyed his personal performance. It was Feb. 2, 2016, the last time the ‘Canes played at Prospera Place when the high octane centreman suffered a broken ankle late in his team’s 2-1 loss.
The Rockets team speed, along with some puck luck, would begin to seal the ‘Canes fate on this night. At 9:56, Dillon Dube sped over the ‘Canes blueline, waltzed around defenceman Calen Addison, drove hard to the net and stuffed the puck under Skinner.
The Rockets would take a 4-3 lead five minutes later when Mattson gained the ‘Canes blueline and forced the puck through traffic where Kyle Topping would deflect the disc past Skinner from the slot.
Lethbridge scored at 3:58 of the third period when a high shot from Jordy Bellerive hit Porter in the chest, then bounced off Cal Foote’s chest over Porter and into the net.
When asked about the weirdest goal of the evening, Lethbridge general manager Peter Anholt wryly admitted with a chuckle that his charges “practice that play all the time”. He was immediately congratulated by an onlooker, who suggested it must be encouraging to see the creativity rewarded.
Kelowna would respond, scoring two goals in 1:36 to take the lead for good.
Cal Foote stopped a Lethbridge clearing attempt inside the defending zone, slid the puck over to Dube, who beat Skinner low stick side.
James Hilsendager, with a laser from just inside the blueline at 12:28 made it 6-4.
Connor Bruggen-Cate added an empty-netter at 17:04.
“We’ve talked about it all year,” Smith said. “The more contributions you get from your group in the depth in your lineup, chances are your team is doing well. When you can rely on everybody and they’re creating opportunities, it’s great.”
The Rockets have won four in a row and are 8-1-1 in its last ten starts. After a 1-3-0-1 start on home ice, Kelowna has won seven straight at Prospera Place.
Cal Foote, who led the team on the night with four assists, likes what he has seen of late.
“We had that tough stint with the five game losing streak,” the team captain said. “We’re headed in a great direction right now. Some younger guys are stepping up. (I’m) very, very pleased with the club and I’m excited about what we can bring the rest of the season.”
With the win, the Rockets keep pace with the B.C. Division leading Victoria Royals, who scored late in Spokane to defeat the Chiefs, 1-0. The Royals are four points ahead of Kelowna. The Rockets have two games in hand. Both teams play again tonight on the road – Kelowna is in Langley to play the Vancouver Giants while the Royals face off in Kennewick against the Tri City Americans.
Post game interview: Cal Foote (click here)
Post game interview: Jason Smith (click here)
Rockets Fuel…Shots on goal were 34-34…Announced attendance was 5,128…Three stars were Dube, Cal Foote, Estephan…Topping had three points…Kindree has a point in five straight games…Kelowna was 2-for-4 on the power play…Scratches were Kelvin Hair, Konrad Belcourt, Erik Gardiner, Kole Lind, Kyle Pow, Brodan Salmond…Lind, who leads the team in scoring with 32 points, did not dress due to illness…Next home game is Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7:05pm against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
(DUBNetwork thanks Kevin Bain and the Kelowna Rockets for its audio/video gameday production.)
