The good news?
Kelowna Rockets forward Andrew Cristall scored his first career playoff goal Tuesday night in game three of their opening-round playoff series.
It snapped a two-game pointless drought.
The bad news?
The 18-year-old was the lone player to find the back of the net in a 4-1 home-ice loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
During the regular season at Prospera Place, the Rockets were held to one goal or less just four times, losing 5-1 to Victoria, 4-1 to Seattle, and being shutout 3-0 by both Prince George and Brandon.
For the second time in three games in this series, the Rockets enjoyed a one-goal lead after 40 minutes before the T-Birds stormed back with a four-goal third period.
The Rockets led 2-1 after two periods in game one, only to see Seattle score twice in the final session.
“Our club has played two solid periods in all three games”, head coach Kris Mallette said after the game. “The success that we had was getting it behind their defense and working them down low. In the third, we got loose, got overconfident, and strayed from our game plan.”
Two of the T-Birds goals came just 1:58 apart, giving the visitors a 3-1 lead before an empty net goal, while shorthanded, sent Seattle skating away with their third straight win, and are now a victory shy of ending the Rockets season.
“They skate well. They transition well. They have a lot of depth”, Mallette added. “They have three very capable lines with their fourth line having two 19-year-olds on it. My fourth line has three 17-year-olds on it.”
Both goaltenders were again great in this one.
Jari Kykkanen, making his third consecutive start, was solid with 18 saves through two periods before Dylan Guenther, with his fourth goal of the series was able to beat him with a low shot to the blocker side 3:31 into the third period to tie the score at one.
Thomas Milic was also sharp, making several solid stops against Cristall and Carson Golder at point-blank range.
The T-Birds have out-scored the Rockets 11-4 in the series, with nine of those goals coming in the final frame, with two of those being empty net goals.
“I can’t go into that room and harp on these guys”, Mallette said. “They are making things interesting, and they are working, and they are working hard. My team is playing some of the best hockey they can play.”
The Rockets find themselves in the exact same situation as a playoff season ago, when down 3-0 in a Western Conference quarter-final series, they earned an overtime victory in game four to send the series back to Seattle courtesy of an Adam Kydd goal.
Those type of heroics will be needed tonight (104.7 – The LIZARD pre-game show starts at 6:40 pm) at Prospera Place in a do-or-die game.
“They want to spend some more time together and they are working as hard as they can,” Mallette concluded.
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