THUNDERBIRDS

Rockets fly past Thunderbirds 5-1

Oct 23, 2016, 8:59 AM | Updated: 10:23 am

The Kelowna Rockets were all smiles after beating the T-Birds 5-1 Saturday (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)...

The Kelowna Rockets were all smiles after beating the T-Birds 5-1 Saturday (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)

(Brian Liesse/T-Birds)

KENT – Kelowna Rockets’ goalie Michael Herringer knows what it’s like to stop the puck at the ShoWare Center.

The 20 year old was playing his first game in Kent since making 71 saves in Game 4 of last spring’s Western Conference Finals Saturday night. While his team came up short that night, he made sure there wasn’t a repeat this time.

Herringer made 36 saves to lead the Rockets to a 5-1 win over the Thunderbirds in a game that Seattle let get away. Kelowna rookie Kyle Topping scored his first three career goals to pace the Rockets in the win. Seattle again out shot its opponent but only got Ian Briscoe’s first WHL goal to show for it.

For the T-Birds, it was a little bit of a step back a night after a feel-good win against Portland.

After a solid first period that was scoreless, the T-Birds got off their game and paid a price. They struggled to manage the puck which led to turnovers and trouble getting out of their own end and stifled their offensive charge.

“As time was elapsing through the second and the third guys started to unravel,” Konowalchuk said. “They started to get individualistic as far as their play and habits. It snowballed.”

When they did get the puck into the Rockets end, they would either miss the net or be turned away by Herringer.

Seattle (3-5-0-1) fell behind in the second period when Kyle Topping snapped a shot past Rylan Toth after a nice set up from down low. It was his first of the night and first of his WHL career.

The T-Birds troubles would continue when they got caught with a defenseman up ice that freed the Rockets for a two-on-one the other way. Kole Lind got in alone, got Toth down and was able to knock the puck in to make it 2-0 for the visitors.

Down a pair of goals, the third period started with the T-Birds on the power play but their early season struggles with the advantage continued. They failed to capitalize and three minutes later Topping would score again to give the Rockets a commanding 3-0 lead.

“I’d like to get the power-play goal there,” Konowalchuk said. “It makes it 2-1 and gives you a lot of life. We had a breakdown and they scored on their next chance and that made it 3-0. I thought from there we started to unravel a bit.”

The wheels would then fall off for Seattle.

Defenseive breakdowns would lead to two more Kelowna goals, including the first career hat tirck goal for Topping who made it 5-0 when he deflected a shot from the point past Toth. The Seattle goalie didn’t get a ton of help from the guys in front of him but made 25 saves on the night.

Seattle only allowed five Kelowna (6-7-0-0) shots in the final frame but three of them found the back of the net. All three came after Seattle failed to manage the puck and put them in a tough spot where the Rockets would be able to take advantage.

Briscoe would score late to steal Herringer’s shutout attempt for his first career marker but it was far too little and too late at that point. The script Saturday was the same it has been at other times early in this season.

Seattle would get some chances, not capitalize, while its opponents did.

“This shows where we still have a lot of guys that need to learn how to play a complete hockey game, learn what it takes,” Konowalchuk said. “Shift in and shift out, physically and mentally.”

The T-Birds will practice this week before getting on the bus for their Eastern Conference swing beginning on Friday night in Swift Current. It begins a stretch that will see them play nine of their next 11 contests on the road.

“It will be good to get a different environment,” Konowalchuk said. “A different practice environment and getting some games. The kind of stuff that happened today, you can’t teach that in practice. When you’re down 2-0 and you’ve got to grind it out and stick with it until you get back into it, you can’t teach that in practice.”

Notes

• Kelowna’s fourth goal was scored by rookie Jack Cowell making him the third player Saturday night to pick up his first WHL goal.

• Ryan Gropp was again a scratch on Saturday as he is nursing a lower body injury. Newcomer Zack Andrusiak was in the lineup but Seattle was still short a forward. Defenseman Anthony Bishop stepped up to play on the wing for the T-Birds.

• Herringer has an impressive ShoWare Center streak going for himself. In the goalie’s last 147 minutes of playing time – which spans two games and two overtimes – he has stopped 107 Seattle shots.

• One positive for the T-Birds on Saturday was the play of their penalty kill. They were perfect on the night, killing off both Kelowna power play chances. After struggling earlier in the season the T-Birds have killed off their last four power play against chances.

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