Hurricanes Fall 7-4 in Kelowna
Kelowna, BC – The Lethbridge Hurricanes kicked off a five game British Columbia trip on Friday with a 7-4 loss in Kelowna against the Rockets for their seventh straight defeat.
The Rockets came out flying in the first period as they quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Liam Kindree tipped home his third of the season just 40 seconds into the game; Cal Foote and Gordie Ballhorn picked up the assists. Rockets made it 2-0 at the 2:08 mark as Leif Mattson stole a pass and buried passed Stuart Skinner as the ‘Canes trailed by a pair early in the game with Kelowna scoring on each of their first two shots of the game. Skinner made a pair of highlight-reel saves to keep the ‘Canes down 2-0, including a shorthanded breakaway save on Dillon Dube. The ‘Canes answered with a goal late in the period as Jake Elmer potted his third on a rebound to make it a 2-1 game after twenty minutes. Rockets held the shots 12-7 in the first period.
The Hurricanes tied the game early in the second period as Giorgio Estephan snapped home his eighth of the season at the 5:48 mark on a power play to make it 2-2; Ryan Vandervlis picked up the lone assist on the goal. Estephan struck again for his second of the night just under four minutes later as he buried a one-timer passed James Porter; Dylan Cozens and Zane Franklin earned the assists on the go-ahead goal. The lead lasted all of 44 seconds however as Dube tied the game with a solo-effort to the net before slipping one under Skinner to make it a 3-3 game. Rockets pulled out in front as Kyle Topping redirected home his ninth of the season to put Kelowna up 4-3 at the 14:45 mark. Hurricanes outshot the Rockets 18-9 in the middle frame but trailed the game by a single goal after two periods.
Once again the Hurricanes tied the game early in the period as Jordy Bellerive scored his ninth of the season just 3:58 into the period making it a 4-4 game. Rockets pulled ahead at 8:52 as Dube snapped home his second of the game making it 5-4 Kelowna. James Hilsendager added a power play goal with under eight minutes left before an empty-net goal by Connor Bruggen-Cate to give the Rockets a 7-4 victory.
The ‘Canes were outshot 13-9 in the third period but the shots were tied 34-34 in the game. Lethbridge went 1/5 on the power play while the Rockets 2/4 on the man advantage.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Rockets – #19 Dillon Dube (2 goals)
2) Rockets – #25 Cal Foote (3 assists)
3) ‘Canes – #9 Giorgio Estephan (2 goals, 1 assist)
The Hurricanes have now lost seven straight games and are 1-6-0-0 on the road this season. The loss drops the ‘Canes overall record to 7-11-1-0 on the season. The Hurricanes return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Kamloops to face the Blazers at 8:00pm Mountain Time. Listen on 106.7 ROCK starting at 7:45pm with the pregame show with Dustin Forbes.
