(Image Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

By Regan Bartel

Winners of five straight

Rockets survive Seattle scare

Feb 25, 2026 | 10:12 PM

The push for home-ice advantage stayed alive Wednesday night, but it was anything but smooth for the Kelowna Rockets.

In front of a restless crowd at Prospera Place, Kelowna worked through an uneven night and still found a way to beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4–1, stretching its winning streak to five games.

It was the Rockets’ 32nd win of the season, pulling them to within a single point of the Prince George Cougars for third in the Western Conference.

The final score looked comfortable. The game itself was not.

Kelowna has now outscored opponents 26–9 over its last five games, but associate coach Don Hay was quick to point out that this one was far from a complete performance.

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“We’d be fooling ourselves if we said we played our best game tonight.”

Still, the Rockets produced just enough offence and survived long stretches spent chasing the play.

Tij Iginla, Mazden Leslie and Carson Wetsch each finished the night with a goal and an assist.

Kelowna built a 2–1 lead in the opening period and carried that same score into the second intermission, even as the Thunderbirds began to swing the momentum in their favour.

“We got off to a really good start,” Hay said. “I thought we deserved to be up 2–1. For most of that first period, I thought we were controlling the game.”

That control didn’t last.

The second period tilted sharply toward Seattle, and the biggest reason was discipline.

“In the second period, we took four penalties,” Hay said, as the Thunderbirds outshot Kelowna 11–4 in the frame. “How can you create any offence when you’re killing that many penalties?”

The Rockets went a perfect five-for-five on the penalty kill, but Hay was not pleased with how his group managed the puck during those defensive stretches.

“I didn’t like some of our clears,” he said. “We really struggled at times to clear the puck when it was right on our stick. There was no need to struggle like that.”

Kelowna spent long shifts defending and never really found a rhythm at five-on-five.

“Mentally, we weren’t as sharp as we should have been,” Hay said. “Maybe the legs weren’t going either. We just weren’t as good as we needed to be.”

Despite all of it, the Rockets escaped the second period still holding a 2–1 lead.

The moment that finally loosened things up came early in the third.

After Kelowna survived a dangerous Seattle breakaway at one end, Iginla fired a shot down the ice that caromed off the end glass and then off the Thunderbirds’ goaltender and into the net.

Just like that, it was 3–1.

“I think that goal gave us confidence,” Hay said. “It almost took some weight off our shoulders. Sometimes you get a little bit of luck, and that one helped us.”

The goal was Iginla’s team-leading 36th of the season and extended his home-ice point streak to 11 games.

From there, the Rockets finally looked more settled. They managed the puck better, made simpler plays, and closed out the final minutes without giving Seattle another opening.

An empty-net goal in the final minute put the game away.

“I love those empty-net goals,” Hay said. “Especially when you can put it right down the middle of the ice.”

Even after another win, Hay said the focus inside the room hasn’t shifted.

“Where you finish is really important,” he said. “Home-ice advantage is a big plus for our organization and for our team.”

Seattle arrived in Kelowna desperate to stay alive in the playoff race, and Hay said that urgency is what makes teams below the cut line so dangerous.

“They’re fighting for their lives,” he said. “They’ve got good players and a lot of pride in their group. You can’t expect any game to be easy.”

One of the quieter, but important, storylines of the night belonged to defenceman Rowan Guest.

Guest finished plus-four while drawing tough matchups against Seattle’s top players and logging heavy minutes on the back end.

“I really like him,” Hay said. “He’s settled into a role and an identity on our team. He’s a big, physical defenceman, he competes hard, and he has really good hockey sense. He can play against the top players in the league and defend really well.”

As the Rockets continue to climb, Hay also warned about the danger of getting comfortable.

“Winning is hard, and it’s easy to get satisfied,” he said. “You can’t just expect to go out there and beat every team. It’s going to be hard.

“So when you get into this situation in the playoffs, you might come out in the first playoff game and you don’t play well, and then you’ve got to respond. I think it’s games like this that make you aware of how you have to respond.”