Rockets let lead slip away

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Tomas Poletin scored twice for the Rockets, giving him five goals on the season. But the two-goal cushion wasn’t enough to withstand a Victoria team that seized on a late second-period breakthrough.

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Brandon McMillan, Kelowna’s assistant coach, pointed to the timing of the Royals’ second goal as a turning point.

“Those little things, they’re killer goals,” McMillan said. “They get one with three seconds left in the second period, and that gives the group some hope going into the third. Then they come out and score on the first shift.”

The Rockets had done plenty right through 40 minutes, building a two-goal advantage with a strong opening period and enough offensive execution to put themselves in position to win. But the final moments of periods have become an area of concern, and Friday provided another reminder of how quickly a game can turn.

“The last few minutes of periods are huge,” McMillan said. “The first few minutes of a period and the last few minutes of a period, we just have to do a better job of keeping it simple and bearing down. Sometimes the ice is getting bad, and you’ve just got to make simple plays.”

Victoria carried that momentum into the third, cutting into the deficit before eventually pulling even at four. The Royals outshot Kelowna 14-9 in the period, putting the Rockets under sustained pressure as the home team worked its way back into the game.

McMillan felt his team responded once the score was tied, creating chances of its own, including two-on-one opportunities. But the Rockets also gave Victoria too many opportunities on the power play.

Kelowna took a series of undisciplined penalties, placing added pressure on a penalty kill forced to contend with a dangerous Victoria attack.

“Against a team with this much firepower, you’re just asking for trouble,” McMillan said. “Our penalty kill actually did a really good job as a group, and the goal we gave up came on a five-on-three. But you just can’t give that much power-play time to a team that’s this dangerous.”

The Rockets finished one-for-three on the power play, but McMillan said the answer to generating more opportunities with the man advantage begins with how the team skates and competes at even strength.

“Playing hard and skating is what forces teams to take penalties,” he said. “When you’re moving the puck and making them chase you, that’s when they take hooking and tripping penalties. Right now, we’re taking some undisciplined penalties that just aren’t needed. They’re not helping us at all.”

Boettiger gave his teammates a chance, making saves to keep the contest alive. But Kelowna couldn’t solve the Royals’ goaltender, going zero-for-five in the shootout.

McMillan acknowledged the pressure that can build when a team struggles to score in shootouts, particularly when the same situation has produced disappointing results in recent games.

“You’re putting the guys in the spotlight,” he said. “Maybe they have that confidence where they haven’t scored in the last couple, and they’re thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’ There’s some more pressure on you.”

The Rockets have worked on shootout attempts through video, looking at higher-percentage options, and McMillan suggested adding more practice repetitions could help restore confidence.

He also believes the condition of the ice late in games is a factor. Without a resurfacing before the shootout, players are attempting their moves on a surface already worn down by a full third period and overtime.

“You’re playing on ice that just took a 20-minute third period and then five minutes in overtime,” McMillan said. “It’s definitely harder to score when the ice is this bad, even though you’re on a breakaway.”

McMillan would like to see the ice scraped before shootouts, arguing that better conditions could encourage more creativity instead of forcing players to rely on straightforward shots.

The immediate challenge for the Rockets is putting Friday’s disappointment behind them. The two teams meet Saturday again, giving Kelowna a quick opportunity to respond without making wholesale changes to a game plan that produced a two-goal lead.

“I don’t think we need to change a lot,” McMillan said. “We did a lot of really good things tonight. We just have to take away their time and space, be on top of them and make a few adjustments in our defensive zone.”