Americans End Rockets Season
r From Kelowna Daily Courier
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r Brandon McMillan did everything in his power to force a Game 6 back in Kelowna. So did captain Lucas Bloodoff and the rest of the Rockets, but their efforts went for naught on Friday night.
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r Kruise Reddick scored the winner, 5:37 into overtime, to send the Tri-City Americans to the Western Conference final on the strength of a 4-3 win in WHL playoff action.
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r The outcome also sent the Rockets home for good, ending the defending league champions‘ season in heartbreaking fashion.
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r With Friday‘s victory, Tri-City won the best-of-seven West semifinal 4-1, and will now face either the Vancouver Giants or the Portland Winterhawks. Vancouver beat Portland 5-3 on Friday to take a 3-1 series lead.
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r Kelowna, meanwhile, appeared destined to prolong its series, leading 2-0 after 40 minutes and 3-1 with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation time at Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash.
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r But that‘s when the wheels fell off, as the hosts rallied with three unanswered goals.
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r McMillan, with his fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs, had staked the Rockets a 2-0 lead. He also set up Bloodoff for a highlight-reel diving goal, which restored Kelowna‘s two-goal lead after Sergei Drozd cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power-play marker five minutes into the third period.
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r Drozd struck again at 12:44, scoring his second of the game and seventh of the playoffs to pull Tri-City back to within one at 3-2.
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r Then, with Americans goalie Drew Owsley pulled in favour of an extra attacker, Johnny Lazo was Johnny on the spot, finding himself in the right place at the right time to bury a rebound off an errant shot. That equalizer, with 1:24 left on the clock, set the stage for Reddick‘s overtime heroics.
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r The 19-year-old forward skated in and fired a shot five-hole on Rockets goalie Mark Guggenberger to seal the deal. Reddick was the Rockets‘ nemesis in the series, also scoring the deciding goal for Tri-City during Wednesday‘s 3-2 road win in Kelowna.
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