iSight Optometry Recap: Top ranked Cougars comeback to take down Rockets
The Kelowna Rockets winless streak grew to nine with a 5-4 loss to the league-leading Prince George Cougars on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
The second-ranked team in the nation on the 2023-24 CHL Top-10 Rankings for week seven released on Tuesday, the Cougars came back from a 4-1 deficit by scoring four unanswered goals.
“We had that game pretty much sewn up,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette in his postgame interview. They scored late in the second period and obviously rode that momentum as the game wore on. I’m very disappointed.”
Up 4-2 heading into the final frame of the game, the Cougars pushed back in the third period with three goals, including a pair of power play goals.
“We talk about being a team but unfortunately the mistakes that we are making isn’t a team. Guys potentially cheating a zone or not taking a hit to make a play, that’s not a team that’s an individual that’s on their own page.”
GAME SUMMARY
Gabriel Szturc (8) skated out from the right corner, letting a shot go that beat Joshua Ravensbergen glove side high 36 seconds into the game.
While on the power play the Rockets made a bad change early into the second period, allowing Terik Parascak (20) to enter the zone alone and tuck the puck through Jake Pilon’s five-hole. On the same man advantage, Tij Iginla (16) restored the Rockets lead on a cross-ice feed from Szturc. Just over five minutes later Iginla (17) found the back of the net again, this time on a dish from Dylan Wightman. Just over two minutes later Szturc (9) unleashed a slap shot into the Cougars net. In the final minute of the second frame, Zac Funk found himself alone on a breakaway, from behind the net he found a trailing Koehn Ziemmer (8) to cut the Rockets lead in half heading into the final period.
Funk (18) then made it a one-goal game with a one-timer from the left faceoff dot while on the power play at 7:41. Unable to find the rebound in front of him, Parascak (21) poked the puck past Pilon to tie the game just past the midway point of the period. With Ben Thornton in the penalty box, the Cougars power play hit the ice where Ondrej Becher‘s shot dribbled past Pilon in the blue paint for Ziemmer (9) to tap into the net.
ADDITIONAL STATS
- The Rockets record is now 7-12-2-0
- Kelowna’s power play was one-for-three on the night, Prince George went two-for-three with the man advantage
- The Rockets outshot the Cougars 34 to 32
- Jake Pilon stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced
- Andrew Cristall and Kayden Longley both missed the game with injuries, while Ismail Abougouche and Jackson DeSouza were the scratches
- The Cougars lead the eight-game season series 3-1, the two will face off next on February 7 when the Royals will make their last trip of the season to Kelowna
UP NEXT
The Rockets will host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Tuesday for their lone visit of the season. It will be a Fan First Menu night with $2 hot dogs and $5 beer Lucky Lager. The Fan First Menu is available at all Monday to Wednesday regular season games.
Single Game Tickets for all Rockets games 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.
Six and twelve game Mini Packs for the Kelowna Rockets season are now on sale through Select Your Tickets. To learn how to save on walk-up tickets and use the flexibility of a Mini Pack click here.
