Blessed with an exceptional blend of skill, hard work and an uncanny ability to execute under pressure, the Kelowna Rockets have elected themselves leaders of the major junior hockey world.
They did it again to the Prince George Cougars, winning 6-2 Saturday night at CN Centre, the Rockets' 20th win in 22 games this season.
It was the fourth-straight lopsided victory this season for the Rockets, who have beaten the Cats by a combined 27-9. The teams have four games remaining in the season series, all in Kelowna
Unlike Friday's 6-3 loss, when they had the game tied with less than 10 minutes left, the Cougars were out of this one early. Leading 5-0 early in the second period, with rookie goalie Jake Morrissey getting the job done on his way to a 34-save performance, the Rockets could afford to go into a defensive shell while handing the Cougars (11-11-0-0) their third straight loss.
After falling behind 2-0, any hopes the Cougars had of a possible comeback were dashed when the Rockets pounded in three more. Czech import Tomas Soustal chipped in a loose puck from the slot for his second of the game and Tyrell Goulbourne pounced on another rebound for his first of two goals. That was enough to convince Cougars coach Mark Holick to swap goalies and in came rookie Tavin Grant to replace Ty Edmonds.
Grant gave up a goal 23 seconds after he entered the game but nobody could fault him when four Cougars left Jesse Lees unguarded just outside the crease for an easy tap-in, fed from behind the net by prominent Cougar-killer Tyson Baillie. It was the first of three assists in the game for Baillie, who scored two goals Friday to run his season total to 10 points in four games in Prince George.
"The Cougars dominated a lot of the second and third periods and Jake stood on his head, he played his best game as a Rocket," said Baillie, a 19-year-old from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. "Our special teams and our goaltending made the difference. They got two goals in the second but we locked it down in third. Jake made some saves and we had a good penalty kill in the third."
Following Lees' goal the Cougars called a timeout and responded with a much better effort the rest of the way. Chase Witala had at least a half-dozen quality cracks at the Kelowna net and finally scored on a bullet slapper from the top of the face-off circle. In his first games back from a two-game suspension, Witala was probably the best player both nights in a Cougar uniform.
"Our first period was pretty slow but I thought we worked pretty hard and it was well-tuned in the second half of the game but they're a good team and we can't give them those chances because we know they'll bury them on us," said Witala. "Five-on-five we dictated the play quite a bit, especially on Friday, but they have a tremendous power play over there and once we got in the penalty box that really hurt us."
Jared Bethune kept the Cougars' faint hopes alive with his third goal of the season late in the second on the power play. The Cougars had 4 1/2 minutes of power-play time to work with in the final period and had lots of pressure but couldn't slip any more past Morrissey.
"I thought we had way too much respect for them in the first period," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "We had two power plays early and we didn't attack like we should and they came back and got two. In the second period, three of the first five shots go in and it was an uphill battle, but we had lots of game left and we were good after that."
Holick was impressed with how the 16-year-old Grant handled himself going into the game cold. He stopped 14 of 16 shots he faced in his first game action since Oct. 26 when he backed the Cougars to a win in Calgary.
"I thought he was good, the first one he didn't have a chance and he rebounded after that -- he's been really paying attention to his mental aspect and he's worked with [sports psychologist Saul Miller] a lot and how he approaches games and prepares himself and you can tell," said Holick. "The effort has been better and the results are starting to come for him."
Rourke Chartier increased his season goal count to 23 in just 21 games to open the scoring for Kelowna on a two-man advantage 13 minutes into the game. Chartier and his centreman Nick Merkley lead the WHL scoring race, each with 40 points, and they formed a deadly combination with Goulbourne at left wing.
In the two games, the Rockets went six-for-12 on the power play, while the Cats were 3-for-12.
"We scored some nice goals tonight but it's more than that, it's keeping pucks down low [in the offensive end] and keeping possession and making sure we don't throw pucks away and don't give up too many odd-man rushes and did a good job of that," Rockets head coach Dan Lambert.
"The Cougars are a good hockey team and they certainly didn't get the breaks tonight or last night. They hit three goal posts in the second period Friday and it might have been a really different story. Sometimes when you're rolling you get some breaks but you're still asking for trouble when you give the other team that many opportunities on the power play."
The Cougars host the Vancouver Giants at CN Centre Tuesday and Wednesday.
