The way they were playing, the Kelowna Rockets didn’t exactly need a save-of-the-year candidate from goalie Michael Herringer, but with one flick of his stick, that’s exactly what he delivered Saturday night at CN Centre.
With the Rockets nursing a 2-0 lead over the Prince George Cougars two minutes into the second period, Herringer was flat on his stomach seemingly out to lunch after making a save when he looked up as Cougars winger Nikita Popugaev spun around with the puck on his stick, taking aim at an empty net.
As the big Russian winger let go his shot, Herringer lifted his lumber and got the crook of his blade in front of the puck, deflecting it high over the net. The Rockets retained their two-goal lead and went on to win 5-1, sweeping the two-game weekend series with the Cougars.
“To be honest it was pretty lucky, I thought it was probably going to go in,” said Herringer. “It kind of just popped out and I saw (Popugaev) spin to shoot and I just dove with my body and stick and just hoped it would hit it and I got lucky enough that it did.
“We were battling all weekend long and we knew that one little mistake can let them back into the game so we have to make sure next time we play them we do the same things.”
Reid Gardiner scored two goals and added an assist. That’s six goals and 11 points in nine games with the Rockets since the 20-year-old right winger returned to the WHL after a half-season in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Cole Lind had a three-point night with a goal and two assists and Nick Merkley also potted a pair.
Kelowna (30-19-4-0, third in WHL B.C. Division) is now 11 points back of the first-place Cougars (36-16-3-0). Saturday’s win improved the Rockets’ record in the season series to 2-4-0-0. Herringer made 29 saves to record back-to-back wins over the Cougars.
“They’re a good team but when we played them earlier on in the year we were missing a lot of key guys so we hadn’t faced them with a full lineup,” said the 20-year-old Herringer. “We have a pretty good team now and we’ve got a lot of confidence and we knew if we played our game, we’re the team to beat in the league.”
Special teams were a huge factor. The Rockets scored two goals on four power-play chances while the woeful Cougars’ power play failed on its three chances. In that six minutes with the man advantage, the Cougars managed just two shots. Dating back to the Christmas break, they’ve scored just 10 goals in their last 72 power-play chances.
“It’s not good enough – five guys have to outwork four and it’s not happening, we’re more worried about individual stats than just the puck going in the net,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk.
“We’re not going to beat them when we don’t want to work, we had no work ethic. I don’t know if we think we’re better than what we are, but it comes down to desperation, determination, and doing what you have to do individually to make sure the guy next to you succeeds and we’re not doing it.”
A nervous beginning produced unsettling results for the Cougars. Seeking redemption after getting badly outplayed in the final 20 minutes the previous night in a 3-2 loss to the Rockets, the Cougars fell behind 2-0.
Merkley, who centred a line on Canada’s world junior team, utilized his powerful skating stride to get free of Jansen Harkins in the slot just long enough to bang in Lind’s behind-the-net feed for the opening goal at 8:11. Then, on a Rockets’ power play late in the period, Merkley rapped in a rebound for his 16th goal of the season.
Jesse Gabrielle finally gave the pro-Cougar crowd of 4,314 spectators a reason to cheer, 5:57 into the second period. He put on a sudden burst of speed to burn Braydyn Chizen down the left wing and made it count, flicking the puck through the legs of Herringer.
It was a milestone achievement for Gabrielle, the 100th goal of his four-year WHL career and 65th since joining the Cougars in a trade from Regina two summers ago and it gave the Cougars a shot of momentum.
But, it was shortlived, and Merkley found a way to disrupt it. He pressured defenceman Ryan Schoettler along the boards in the Cougar end, forcing him to rush a clearing shot off the glass and Gardiner picked off the puck at the blueline and cruised in untouched to let go a bullet wrist shot for a 3-1 lead. That came less than two minutes after Gabrielle scored.
The Rockets delivered the dagger in the third period. Dillon Dube intercepted a clearing attempt from Cats winger Radovan Bondra and did most of the work controlling the puck before Lind swept in a backhander past a screened Ty Edmonds for his 25th of the season. Gardiner cashed in a power play a few minutes later to cap the scoring.
“These were two huge games for us, we were looking forward to it against the first-place team in our division, and we came out with two huge efforts,” said Lind, a native of Shaunavon, Sask., who also had two assists in Friday’s 3-2 win.
“Our penalty kill really locked it down. We were blocking shots and taking advantage of getting pucks out when we had chances. We got pucks to the net on the power play and caused a couple of scrambles and got a couple of good goals.”
Not since the Everett Silvertips won both games at CN Centre in October had the Cougars been skunked in a doubleheader on home ice.
“It was disappointing, giving up two games on the weekend. We didn’t play very well, we didn’t capitalize on our chances and it cost us,” said Cougars captain Sam Ruopp. “Guys aren’t getting pucks deep, there were turnovers in our zone and we’re getting away from our system a bit. Over the course of the season we’ve done well bouncing back from tough games like this and we’ve really showed we’re able to come back and play our game. We have to start playing with more urgency and win our one-on-one battles. It comes down to execution.”
The Cougars’ lead atop the division over second-place Kamloops has been cut to six points but nobody in the Cats’ camp is pushing the panic button.
“We’ve dealt with adversity all year long, good teams go through stretches where you’re going to have this – Regina went through it, Medicine Hat went through it and Everett’s going through it now," said Matvichuk. “We’re all in this together, including our coaching staff and the players. We are where we are for a reason; we’re a good hockey team. Two losses at home, of course we’re concerned, but we’re still in first place in our division and we’ll battle out of it.”
Said Ruopp: “Just bear with us, we’re going through some adversity but we’re still a top team and we still play with a lot of passion and we still have our minds on that championship.”
The Cougars will be back on the ice at CN Centre Tuesday night to take on the Vancouver Giants in the first of a two-game set.
