Another great effort by Adam Brown, and another win for the Kelowna Rockets.
Brown made 38 saves and Evan Bloodoff scored the winning goal, in overtime, as the Rockets swept a pair of weekend games in Prince George, posting a 2-1 victory over the Cougars in WHL action on Saturday night. On Friday, Kelowna beat Prince George 4-2.
Traditionally, earning a sweep up north isn't easy, with splits being the norm. That Kelowna not only went two-for-two, but also jumped out of fifth-and-last place in B.C. Division standings, and, well, the team was stoked about the result.
As of today, Vancouver leads the five-team division with 29 points, while Chilliwack is second with 25, with Kelowna and Prince George tied for third at 24. Kamloops is in last at 23.
"With everything being so tight, it's nice to get ourselves in the direction we want to be going," said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. "But if you're standing and watching (the division race) right now, things are going to change a lot."
Andreas Stene, with his first goal of the season, tallied just 15 seconds into the contest, also scored for Kelowna (12-11-0-0), which has won eight of its last nine games. The Rockets also improved to 4-1 against Prince George this season, having beaten the Cougars for a fourth straight time. The Rockets opened their season with a 6-2 loss to the Cougars.
Brett Connolly, with his third goal in two games, replied for Prince George (11-10-2-0), which is 2-5 this month, including 0-3 against the Rockets. Connolly, with his 18th goal of the season, levelled the score late in the first period. James Priestner made 26 saves for the Cougars, who, according to Kelowna, had a tough time trying to beat Brown.
"Adam was pretty much the reason why we got points out of this game," said Huska. "Our first period was really good, but in the second and third, I thought Prince George kinda took over. But Adam made some very big saves to allow us to get into overtime."
In overtime, the Rockets cashed in on a two-on-one, with Bloodoff burying a Tyson Barrie rebound at 1:13. The shot squeaked through Priestner and Bloodoff charged to the net and jammed in his third goal of the season.
"It was nice to see Evan get rewarded," said Huska, "because he worked really hard in both games up here."
The Rockets' next game is Wednesday, at home to the visiting Regina Pats (7-13-3-1), who are on a five-game B.C. road trip.
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