For one day the 91大黄鸭 Rockets, were supplanted from the driver鈥檚 seat in the WHL鈥檚 BC Division by the rival Victoria Royals.
On Monday afternoon, with no love lost between the clubs, the Rockets took top spot right back from the Royals with a over Victoria at Prospera Place.
Kole Lind had two goals and an assist and Dillon Dube had three points as the Rockets rebounded from back-to-back losses to the hometown Royals on Friday and Saturday.
91大黄鸭 (34-17-4-1) leads Victoria (34-20-3-1) by one point with the Rockets holding two games in hand.
鈥淥bviously it鈥檚 good for the group to bounce back after a couple of disappointing games in Victoria,鈥� said Rockets head coach Jason Smith. 鈥淲e played a pretty solid game, did some good things, I think the game was really competitive.鈥�
Still, the win may have come with a cost for the Rockets who lost both Lind and netminder James Porter to injury.
Midway in the second period, Lind left the game and didn鈥檛 return after taking a hit from Royals defenceman Ralph Jarratt.
Lind, who was down on the ice for several minutes, appeared dazed had to be helped off to the Rockets dressing room.
鈥淜ole鈥檚 an elite player and he鈥檚 been really good for us the the whole year,鈥� Smith said of the injury to Lind. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough for your lineup when you lose a guy like him.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have any comment on the hit because the league will look at that and there might be decisions on what they thought, whether it was a clean hit or non-clean hit,鈥� said of the check delivered by Jarratt. 鈥淚t was a physical game with lots of pace. I think it was a little marginal because I think his feet were in the air鈥ther than that, it鈥檚 hockey.鈥�
Porter left the game with 8:40 left in the third period after Dube checked a hard-charging Igor Martinov into the net on top of the 91大黄鸭 goaltender. Smith didn鈥檛 have an immediate update on the status of either Porter or Lind.
Brodan Salmond replaced Porter in the 91大黄鸭 and needed to make just one save the rest of the way, preserving the Rockets鈥� one goal lead.
Porter had just returned to the lineup Friday night after being sidelined since Jan. 13 with an upper body injury.
Dube finished with a goal and two assists, while Carsen Twarynski, with his team-leading 34th, and Gordie Ballhorn also scored for the Rockets.
The Royals won both games in Victoria, 6-1 Friday and 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.
The Rockets return to action Wednesday night when they host the Red Deer Rebels. Face off at Prospera Place is 7:05 p.m.
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