In his first game back since leading Czechia to the bronze medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship, Kelowna Rockets left winger Jakub Stancl picked up where he left off.
Having led the tournament in Ottawa with seven goals the 19-year-old St. Louis Blues prospect lived up to his reputation as a sniper Friday night in Kelowna, scoring three goals and assisting on two others in a 6-3 win over the Prince George Cougars.
Stancl’s second of the night put Kelowna ahead 4-3 late in the second period and the Rockets stunned the Cougars with a pair of goals nine seconds apart in the opening minute of the third period to take control.
Trade acquisitions Will Sharpe and Dawson Gerwing each scored the first goals as members of the Rockets.
The Cougars got off to a great start. Aidan Foster scored 21 seconds into the game and Ben Riche followed that up at the 6:57 mark with his second goal for the Cats since being acquired in a trade Saskatoon.
Kelowna’s Max Graham cut the lead in half late in the period and Stancl started off his hat trick to tie the game with a power-play goal midway through the second period.
Rookie winger Kayden Lemire gave the visitors a brief lead with his third of the season.
“They outworked us for 54 minutes of the game and at the start of the third period we weren’t ready to start,” said Cougars associate coach Jim Playfair. “Our goaltender wasn’t ready to start and the team wasn’t ready to compete and they scored a couple quick goals.”
The Rockets had added incentive of trying to impress their new coach.
Derrick Martin assumed the role as interim head coach after Kris Malette was fired earlier in the day after nearly five years as head coach.
“We started on time and got two quick goals… and we were stubborn, we wouldn’t stick to the details, we got bored thinking it was going to be a point night, guys got off script and started cheating on the offensive side of the puck,” said Playfair.
“Especially our third line, they were on the offensive side thinking they were going to be able to have three or four or five goals as a line and it backfired. The lesson is if you’re going to do things right and you’re going to win this time of year you can’t get bored with details and the structure, you’ve got to stick with it and we refused to do that tonight.
The Cougars (24-11-3-2) remain first in the BC Division, 20 points ahead of the fourth place Rockets (15-18-2-1).
The Cougars have lost just three times against BC Division opponents this season and two of those loses were in Kelowna.
Shots were 38-34 in the Rockets’ favour.
Jake Pilon picked up the win in net for Kelowna.
Cooper Michaluk, coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Seattle a week ago, took the loss/
LOOSE PUCKS: Defenceman Alexey Chichkin played his first game for the Cougars since being acquired earlier this week in a trade from the Regina Pats. He was paired with fellow Russian speaker Arseni Anisimov….The Cougars will be in Kamloops to take on the Blazers (6 p.m., 94.3 FM The Goat).
