The Kelowna Rockets have begun the WHL season with no course corrections required.
Having already beaten the Prince George Cougars handily the previous night without the captain of the ship, the Rockets welcomed Madison Bowey back Saturday night and the 19-year-old defenceman reminded the CN Centre audience why he figures prominently in the future of the Washington Capitals.
Bowey returned to his junior teammates from the Capitals' camp in time for Saturday's game and nobody was happier about that than his defence partner, Riley Stadel, who connected with Bowey for back-to-back power-play goals in the second period which put the finishing touches on an 8-2 Rockets victory.
Bowey, a second-round pick of the Capitals in 2013, was a constant thorn in the side of the Cougars, who lost 7-2 to the Rockets in their home-opener Friday. He set up three goals and was a physical force, keeping the ice around him clear of Cougars.
"We had a good start and it was chippy with a few good fights and we had a few guys step up and we were just buzzing after that," said Bowey. "We never really let off the gas and I'm proud of the guys. All the guys were moving the puck around really well. I came back to a great situation, all the guys are gelling well. This is really our year, I think. We're all another year mature and it's going to be a lot of fun."
Bowey had the chance to job-shadow veteran Mike Green and was paired in camp with the nine-year NHL veteran on the Capitals blueline. Bowey showed he's more than ready to take over the role as the Rockets power-play quarterback from Damon Severson, now in the NHL with New Jersey. He earned his first point with an assist on Rourke Chartier's second goal of the night which made it 4-2, 14:13 into game while the Cougars were killing a 5-on-3 situation. If that wasn't enough to deflate the home team and a partisan crowd of 2,581, former Cougar Carter Rigby took care of that with his power-play shot through the pads of rookie Tavin Grant with only seven-tenths of a second left in the first period.
"Our power play was really good tonight and that got us going in the right direction," said Rockets head coach Dan Lambert, whose Rockets have won 13 of their last 14 games at CN Centre dating back to the 2011-12 season. "Coming in here and playing two games is never easy. It's always a battle and in these two games the score was worse [for the Cougars] than it actually was. Our goaltender [Jackson Whistle] had to make saves at key times and he did that again tonight."
The situation went from bad to worse for the Cougars in the second period when Ty Edmonds, in to replace Grant after the intermission, lost a gamble with Kris Schmidli. Playing shorthanded,Schmidli got behind the Cougars defence and outraced Edmonds to get to Tyson Baillie's long clearing pass off the boards. Schmidli failed to get a shot away but had time to tuck the puck in on his second chance before Edmonds got back to the crease.
Special teams were an absolute nightmare for the Cougars, who went 0-for-5 on the power play. The Rockets scored five goals on nine power-play chances. Nick Merkley notched the Rockets' first shorthanded goal in the first period after intercepting the pass from Shane Collins.
"We have to stay out of the box and we have to get a save," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "We allow 12 shots and give up five goals in the first period, that's unheard of. A 50 or 60 per cent save percentage in the WHL isn't going to cut it.
"But [Grant's] in the league for a reason and he'll bounce back We have to be better at discipline, but if you're going to give up 25 or 30 shots a night you can't give up eight or nine goals on that. It was turnover after turnover and nobody's talking and we had a lot of breakdowns that are preventable."
The 16-year-old Grant, who gave up two goals on 14 shots coming in to replace Edmonds late in the second period Friday, knows he'll have to get a lot better to stick around with the Cougars as a rookie this season. Baillie's goal caught Grant not hugging his goalpost, only a minute after David Soltes had opened the scoring for the Cougars.
"The first game wasn't terrible when I got thrown in there but the second one I can't really explain it right now just because I'm still overwhelmed with how I did, I was expecting a lot more of myself," said Grant. "Hopefully with a hard week of practice I can change what that score is."
Shots ended up 31-30 in favour of the Rockets as Whistle picked up his third win of the season. Edmonds stopped 16 of 19 shots.
Bailie finished with a three-point night with a goal and two assists to move into a tie for the WHL scoring lead with eight points in three games.
"They're a good team but we definitely gave it them way too easy," said Cougars forward Chase Witala. "We're taking way too many penalties lately and something's got to change to get the ball rolling. Stick penalties are really hurting us, it would have been a totally different game if we'd stayed out of the box."
The Cougars have been outscored 22-4 in their last three games. The Cougars can take some solace in the fact Kelowna also beat up on the Kamloops Blazers a week ago to start the season. Through three games the Rockets have outscored their opponents 21-5.
The Cougars (1-3-0-0) host the Swift Current Broncos (2-2-0-0) on Tuesday night.
