The didn鈥檛 earn too many points for style. But with a challenging week laying in wait, escaping Prince George with a pair of victories just might carry some added value for Jason Smith鈥檚 club down the road.
91大黄鸭 (4-1-0-1) will host the Calgary Hitmen (1-4-1-0) Friday, before heading to Oregon for games on Saturday and Sunday against the Portland Winterhawks. Then Tuesday, it鈥檚 off to Kennewick, Wash., to see the Tri-City Americans, the Rockets鈥� fourth game in a five-night span.
鈥淲e鈥檙e starting by playing a hungry team (Calgary) that鈥檚 been a little slow out of the gates,鈥� said Rockets鈥� assistant coach Kris Mallette. 鈥淭hen we get on a bus and drive through the night to Portland to play two games against a good, fast, young team that a lot of people are picking to come out of the conference.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a good test for our guys, that鈥檚 what we want. We鈥檙e going to learn a lot about ourselves.鈥�
The Rockets needed overtime in both wins over the Cougars last weekend. Battling back from a two-goal deficit four times on Friday night, Kole Lind supplied the decisive goal for 91大黄鸭 in a
鈥淚t showed the resiliency of our team,鈥� said Mallette. 鈥淭here was a feeling on the bench from the coaches that the players knew they could win that game.
鈥淲as it pretty ? No鈥ut there aren鈥檛 pictures on the stat sheet. The guys battled and got it done.鈥�
, the Rockets jumped out to a two-goal lead, then had to rely on rookie goalie James Porter to keep them in the game. Porter stopped 42 of 45 shots鈥攊ncluding 22 in the second period鈥攑aving the way for the Rockets to overcome a 3-2, third-period deficit and setting the stage for Dillon Dube鈥檚 OT winner.
鈥淲e came out the way we wanted and got the lead but then absolutely sat on it,鈥� Mallette said. 鈥淲e had a rookie goaltender do a fantastic job for us and we had some other unsung heroes, like Konrad Belcourt (game-tying goal), who really stepped up and played some key minutes.
鈥淲e did some good things in stretches and not in others, but we just stuck with it. It鈥檚 not the way you draw it up, but we鈥檒l certainly take those four points.鈥�
The Rockets head into the weekend down three players due to injury. Forwards Leif Mattson and Conner Bruggen-Cate, and defenceman Braydyn Chizen are all sidelined on a week-to-week basis.
Face off Friday night at Prospera Place between the Rockets and Hitmen is 7 p.m.
whenderson@kelownacapnews.com
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