ISight Optometry Recap: Rockets put nine past Pats in Saturday night victory
The Kelowna Rockets gave the home town crowd something to cheer about on Saturday night at Prospera Place as they dispatched the Regina Pats 9-1.
Andrew Cristall and Tij Iginla both had five points in the evening while Jakub Stancl chipped in with a goal and three helpers. Goaltender Jake Pilon made 26 saves on the evening for his sixth victory of the season.
HIGHLIGHTS | BOXSCORE | POST GAME MALLETTE | POST GAME VARGA
GAME SUMMARY
The game started off quick as Kelowna and Regina traded goals within the game’s first five minutes. Jakub Stancl opened the scoring with a bullet of a shot that beat Pats goaltender Ewan Huet at 3:22 before Regina tied it thanks to Tye Spencer’s seventh of the season at 4:45. From there it was all Rockets as they would score four more goals in the frame, going ahead 5-1. Hiroki Gojsic quickly answered Regina’s goal less than a minute later and was followed by Andrew Cristall’s first of three goals, Tij Iginla and Max Graham.
Kelowna would continue to pressure Regina as Cristall would score his second and third goals of the game, one coming on a breakaway and the other going bar down on Kelton Pyne, who replaced Huet after the first period. Kanjyu Gojsic would extend the lead to 8-1 after 40.
Nate Corbet scored his second goal in Rockets colours with a shot from the point to make it 9-1 in favour of the home side.
“I like the fact that we were able to roll four lines and six defencemen,” said Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette. “There have been some games where we haven’t had that luxury, so I thought the challenge for our group was to try and play a team game. We had short shifts, made simple plays and I thought they got rewarded for it.”
ADDITIONAL STATS
- Kelowna outshot Regina 31-27
- Kelowna went 1/2 on the power play while Regina went 0/3
- Jake Pilon made 26 saves
UP NEXT
The Rockets will now have some time to rest and recover before hitting the road for three games in three nights. They’ll begin their trip in Everett on Friday December 6th, and wrap up with a pair of games in Victoria on December 7th and 8th.
Tickets can be purchased online at selectyourtickets.com, by calling Select Your Tickets at 250-762-5050 or by visiting the Select Your Tickets box office at the Prospera Place box office. The box office is open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and opens at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday home game days.
