The Kelowna Rockets are staying alive for Game 5.
They handed the visiting Prince George Cougars their first loss of the WHL playoffs, winning a nailbiter 2-1 Wednesday in Kelowna too stave off elimination.
That means Cougar fans have an excuse to gather in great numbers again at CN Centre, hoping they will get to see Cats end the Rockets’ season Friday in Game 5, leading the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series 3-1.
The Rockets got all the scoring they would need in the second period. Goals from Max Graham and Gabriel Szturc in the final five minutes of the period put Kelowna ahead 2-0 and Jari Kykkanen was the star in goal who prevented the Cougars from advancing to the third round for the first time since 2007.
Kykkanen stopped 26 of 27 shots to even his playoff record at 5-5.
His only blemish was a toe-dragged shot through the slot from Cougar defenceman Hudson Thornton, who scored his third of the playoffs with 3:23 left to make for a close finish.
It was the first loss in eight games of the playoffs for Prince George.
“The fourth one is obviously the toughest one to get and give them credit, they checked us, they put pucks in and worked and didn’t give us a lot of room tonight,” said Cougars assistant coach Carter Rigby.
“We had definitely an off-night for a lot of guys. (Tuesday) night we got the result at the end, but we’re stringing together right now some tough periods for our group and we’ve got to regroup here and push back and demand more at home. We’ve got a lot of guys who were passengers tonight, not good enough.”
Outshot and outchanced in the second period, the Rockets rallied with two late goals to jump ahead. Graham caught a fortunate break when his centring attempt hit the stick blade of Cougars forward Borya Valis and slipped through the legs of Young just past the 15-minute mark.
Then with 48 seconds left in the period, Kelowna defenceman Caden Price went deep into the Prince George zone and from the face-off circle fed Rockets captain Szturc a perfect pass, and his shot on the fly found the net for a 2-0 lead.
Between those two goals, Cougars defenceman Viliam Kmec nailed the goalpost after a face-off win in the Kelowna end.
The Cougars were guilty of not shooting the puck often enough or they waited too long to try to make the pretty pass, and when they did shoot they missed a lot of nets.
As he did in the Spokane series, Cougars head coach Mark Lamb elected to start Ty Young in goal and gave Joshua Ravensbergen the night off after he had allowed just two Rocket goals in the previous three games.
Young showed no rust in his first game action since April 3rd, when he stopped 30 of 32 shots to complete the sweep over the Spokane Chiefs. He was called upon to some great saves early to keep the Rockets off the scoreboard. Kelowna outshot the Cougars 12-5 in the opening period but the game was closer than that made it seem.
The Cougars came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock 2:22 into the second period when Oren Shtrom jammed the net and almost got the puck across the line and before the whistle went, Thornton cruised in from the point and found the puck loose in the crease and with the goalie Kykkanen flat on his back, Thornton put the puck off the post. Video replay confirmed it was no goal.
The Cougars kept coming with authority in the offensive zone and their top scoring line Zac Funk-Riley Heidt-Terik Parascak (all of whom rang up more than 100 points this season) led the charge. Heidt’s saucer pass found Parascak’s stick blade on a 2-on-1 and he just missed with his shot and on the ensuing play Heidt set up Funk in the slot from behind the net and Kykkanen robbed him with a huge glove stop.
The Cougars kept the heat on in the third period trying to find a way to beat Kykkanen. Valis just missed on a dangerous 2-on-1 setup pass from Koehn Ziemmer and Parascak also mishandled a saucer feed in scoring range from Funk.
The Rockets defence played its best game of the series and Kayden Sadhra-Kang was particularly effective getting his stick in the shooting lanes and breaking up passes to limit the zone time for Cougars.
They got Young to the bench for the extra skater in the final minute but were unable to muster much in the way of offence as the seconds ticked down.
LOOSE PUCKS: Tickets for Game 5 Friday went on sale right after the game on tickets North website. The CN Centre box office will open at 10 a.m. Thursday… That 26-game stretch without a regulation loss also coincided with Cougar winger Ondrej Becher’s point streak, which ended at 26 games Wednesday... The Saskatoon Blades can start selling tickets for the third round. They swept their Eastern Conference semifinal series 4-0 over the Red Deer Rebels, eliminating the Rebels with a 7-0 win Wednesday in Red Deer. Meanwhile, in the other Eastern semi, the Moose Jaw Warriors scored a 5-2 road win over Swift Current Broncos to take a 3-1 lead in that series, with a chance to wrap it up Friday in Moose Jaw…. The Portland Winterhawks will have to wait until Friday to go back to Everett for Game 4 of the other Western semifinal, leading 3-0.
WHL playoffs
Western Conference semifinal
Prince George Cougars vs. Kelowna Rockets
(Cougars lead best-of-seven series 3-1)
Game 4
Wednesday summary
Cougars 1 at Rockets 2
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties – Mittelsteadt Kel (hooking) 5:22, Lajoie PG (roughing) 13:56.
Second Period
1. Kelowna, Graham 4 (Cicek, Price) 15:15
2. Kelowna, Szturc 6 (Price, Cristall) 19:12
Penalties – Thornton PG (embellishment), Wightman Kel (cross-checking) 16:00.
Third Period
No scoring.
Penalties – Parascak PG (goaltender interference). Price Kel (roughing) ??
Shots on goal by:
Prince George 5 14 8 -27
Kelowna 12 7 10 -29
Goal – Prince George, Young (L,1-1); Kelowna, Kykkanen (W,5-5)
Power plays – Prince George: 0-1; Kelowna: 0-1.
Referees: Jeff Ingram, Bryan Bourdon; Linesmen: Dustin Minty, Cody Wanner.
Attendance - 3,852
