The Kelowna Rockets scored four power-play goals to defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-2 Friday night at the accesso ShoWare Center.
The T-Birds play the Portland Winterhawks at 6 p.m. Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game is being broadcast on JOEtv.
Kelowna (27-12-2-1) took a 1-0 lead with a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Carsen Twarnyski at 11:46 of the first period.
The Rockets made it 2-0 on the power play at 13:16 of the first when Jack Cowell scored.
Colum McGauley scored on a breakaway on delayed penalty call at 3:41 of the second period to give the Rockets a 3-0 lead.
Kelowna extended the lead to 4-0 at 10:53 of the second on a power-play goal by Leif Mattson.
The Rockets had a 28-13 advantage in shots after two periods.
Twarynski scored his second goal of the game at 10:44 to give the Rockets a 5-0 lead.
Seattle (20-15-4-2) got on the board at 14:03 of the third when Dillon Hamaliuk put back a rebound. Noah Philp came out of the right corner and passed the puck to Turner Ottenbreit as he pinched down from the left point. Kelowna goalie James Porter made the save on Ottenbreit’s shot but Hamaliuk was there to clean up the rebound.
The T-Birds scored at 16:53 of third to make it a 5-2 Kelowna lead. Hamaliuk carried the puck into the Kelowna zone and passed it to Austin Strand. Strand skated into the slot and beat Porter with a wrist shot. Jarret Tyszka had the second assist.
Mattson scored a empty-net goal at 18:12 of the third to seal the win for the Rockets.
Seattle goalie Liam Hughes had 36 saves on 41 shots and his record is now 8-5-1-1.
Porter had 23 saves on 25 shots and his record is 18-6-2-0.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Kelowna, Twarnyski 20 (C. Foote, Topping), 11:46 (pp). 2, Kelowna, Cowell 7 (Mattson, Ballhorn), 13:16 (pp). Penalties – Skvrne, Kel (holding), 2:33. MacLean, Sea (slashing), 10:25. Andrusiak, Sea (hooking), 11:33.
Second period – 3, Kelowna, McGauley 2, 3:41. 4, Kelowna, Mattson 12 (C. Foote, Lind), 10:53 (pp). Penalties – Wedman, Sea (charging), 5:22. Moilanen, Sea (high sticking), 9:39. Chizen, Kel (tripping), 13:36. Kushniryk, Kel (hooking), 16:21. Wedman, Sea (slashing), 18:45.
Third period – 5, Kelowna, Twarnyski 21 (Topping, C. Foote), 10:44. 6, Seattle, Hamaliuk 8 (Ottenbreit, Philp), 14:03. 7, Seattle, Strand 14 (Hamaliuk, Tyszka), 16:53. 8, Kelowna, Mattson 13, 18:12 (en). Penalties – Wedman, Sea (tripping), 6:25. MacLean, Sea (major-fighting, game misconduct), 8:39. Pow, Kel (major-fighting, game misconduct), 8:39. Bargar, Sea (high-sticking), 9:30. Hamaliuk, Sea (boarding), 11:14. Lee, Sea (10-minute misconduct), 11:14. Lind, Kel (tripping), 11:36.
Shots on goal – Seattle 7-6-12 25, Kelowna 15-13-14 42. Goalies – Seattle, Hughes 41 shots-36 saves (8-5-1-1); Kelowna, Porter 25-23 (17-6-2-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-5; Kelowna 4-8. A – 4,259. Referees – Bryan Bourdon, Jeff Ingram. Linesmen – Trevor Beaton, Brett Mackey.
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Seattle goalie Liam Hughes reaches to deny a Rockets’ shot during Friday night’s WHL game. COURTESY PHOTO, Brian Liesse/T-Birds
