Royals defuse Rockets 4-1
Unprepared.
“That was our game in a nutshell,” said Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska.
The Rockets’ nine-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Victoria Royals with a 4-1 loss on Wednesday at Prospera Place.
Kelowna’s B.C. Division rivals scored three goals during the third period, including two power play markers, to hand the Rockets their first loss since October 22.
“I don’t think we were prepared to play,” said Huska. “It’s a tough one. I thought we were out of gas the whole night - our power play didn’t do the job for us and neither did our penalty kill.”
Both teams were coming off of road wins heading into last night’s game - the Royals with a 2-1 win at Kamloops, and the Rockets with a 4-3 shootout win at Seattle.
“You can make an excuse that we travelled all night last night,” said Rockets winger Tyson Baillie, who potted the shootout winner against the Thunderbirds on Tuesday. “But it shouldn’t be an excuse for us.”
Royals forward Tyler Soy scored on Victoria’s first shot of the game, squeaking one between the legs of Jordon Cooke, highlighting a slow-paced first period.
Baillie scored Kelowna’s lone goal of the game in the second frame off of a beautiful drop pass from Winnipeg Jets prospect Ryan Olsen.
“Our penalty kill has been very good this year,” Baillie said of Kelowna’s top-ranked penalty killing unit. “But today, they got a couple of power play goals on us, which is unfortunate in such a close game.”
Victoria managed only four shots on net in the second, but killed two key penalties in a five on three situation.
The turning point of the game came on a Victoria two-man advantage, when Austin Carroll tipped in a shot from an awkward angle out of the corner. Kelowna had a man in the box serving a minor, along with man another serving a bench minor for too many men - the Rockets’ second such offence of the game.
Victoria’s Ben Walker tallied the Royals third goal, using his speed to beat defenceman Riley Stadel up the ring wing and fire an unassisted wrist shot past Cooke. Brandon Fushimi also scored - again on the power play - to secure the Royals’ 4-1 win. Kelowna recorded only three shots in the third.
WHL-leading goaltender Cooke recorded his first regulation loss of the season, while Victoria’s Patrik Polivka stopped 27 shots to pick up his tenth win between the pipes.
“It’s a good thing we have a game Friday so we can recover quick and get back at it,” said Baillie. “We’re just looking forward to continuing another streak.”
The Rockets now sit at 16-3-0-2 on the season and will suit up on Friday against the Tri City Americans to wrap up three games in four nights this week.
“It’s something we have to learn from and make sure that we don’t get ourselves into this situation again,” said Huska. “(We can’t) look for a crutch … if things don’t go our way, we have to fight through that challenge if we want to be one of the better teams in the league.”
