iSight Optometry Recap: Winterhawks ground Rockets
The Portland Winterhawks handed the Kelowna Rockets an 11-1 loss on Friday night at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, OR.
GAME SUMMARY
Tyson Jugnauth (3) fired a shot from the slot to open the scoring 2:41 into the game. The play was reviewed for goaltender interference but held up. Twenty-two seconds later Nate Danielson took off with the puck on a three-on-one along the left, centering the puck to Marcus Nguyen (17) in the slot. Portland then made a nice passing play that started from Diego Buttazzoni from the top of the left faceoff circle who fed it to Gabe Klassen in the slot and then dished it to James Stefan (31) down low in the left faceoff circle pushing the goal lead to three goals four minutes later. Just past the midway point, the puck coasted out from the left corner to Josh Mori (1) in the slot, who uncontested, teed up a drive to give the Winterhawks a 4-0 lead.
The Rockets were able to hold off the Winterhawks until 8:29 into the second period when Jack O’Brien (15) capitalized on the power play. Stefan (32) struck again at 10:03, thirty-nine seconds later Kyle McDonough (1) scored. Jari Kykkanen was then replaced in net by Jake Pilon. Nate Danielson (15) pushed the Winterhawks out to an eight-goal lead before the end of the second period.
Stefan (33) completed the hat trick 33 seconds into the third period. Hudson Darby (6) and Diego Buttazzoni (22) both scored to give Portland an eleven goal load. Ethan Neutens (7) found the back of the net to break Jan Spunar’s shutout bid.
ADDITIONAL STATS
- The Rockets record is now 22-23-3-0
- Jari Kykkanen turned away 18 of the 25 shots fired on him before Pilon came into net, who stopped 17 of 21 shots
- Portland was 2/4 on the power play while Kelowna was 0/6
- The Winterhawks outshot the Rockets 46-29
- This was the final of four meetings between the two, with the Winterhawks taking the season series 3-1
UP NEXT
Kelowna will wrap up their road trip on Sunday in Spokane at 5:05 pm.
Kelowna’s next home game is set for Wednesday, February 7 when the Victoria Royals will visit Prospera Place for the final time this season. It will be a fan first menu with $2 hot dogs and $5 Lucky Lager.
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.
