Leaving the island empty handed

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The team entered the weekend five points up on the Royals for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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That lead has now been reduced to a single point.

After being shut out Friday night by the Royals in a 4-0 setback, the Rockets regained their scoring touch in a 6-3 loss Saturday night.

Max Graham snapped a 177-minute 24-second goal-less drought after the team sustained back-to-back shutout losses.

Graham, flourishing on a line that included Gabriel Szturc and Adam Kydd, opened the scoring with his 8th of the season and then found the back of the net later in the game for his 9th, which is one goal shy of a career-high 10 scored a season ago.

Szturc, who had a team high 16 shots on the weekend collected two assist, while Kydd also earned a pair of helpers in the teams 23rd loss of the season and 13th setback away from Prospera Place.

Only Edmonton (19) and Victoria (14) have lost more times on opposition ice this season.

Sadly, the damage Saturday night was done early in the second period when the Royals scored 32 seconds into the faceoff, which saw the home team scored three straight goals to make it 4-1.

Dylan Wightman’s 7th goal of the season, which saw the team snap a 0 for 16 slump with the extra man on an early power play goal from Graham, gave the Rockets renewed life heading into the intermission down 4-2, before the Royals earned their 12th victory with a two-goal third period.

Ex-Kelowna Rockets forward Jake Poole, who was traded to the Royals back on October 4th for an eighth round prospect pick, collected two assists in the game, giving the 20-year-old a team leading 3+8=11 in the seven game seasonal series.

For a third straight game, the Rockets played without leading scorer Andrew Cristall, while 14 goal man Carson Golder, who took the pre-game warmup, also didn’t play in missing his fourth consecutive game with an undisclosed injury.

The Royals elected not to dress marquee defenseman Gannon Laroque for the rematch and often injured forward Brayden Schuurman was unable to play, so on paper, it was a level playing field.

The loss, extended the Rockets’ road losing streak to six games, having been out-scored 27-7 over that span.

The last time the team failed to win in six consecutive road games was in 2011-2012, when they went eight straight road games without a victory (0-6-2-0).

While the Royals gained significant ground in an effort to make the playoffs, when they looked dead in the water when they were marred in a WHL high 12 game losing streak, the Rockets recent slide needs to stop.

The next 15 days of game action may make or break there season with five games against the Vancouver Giants and a rematch a week from today with the hard charging Royals.

With Cristall and Golder about to return from the injury bay, the hope is the team can erase the memories of dropping 16 of their last 20 games (4-14-2-0).