It wasn’t a very fun trip for the Kelowna Rockets as they lost for the second time in two nights to the Prince George Cougars.
After falling 5-1 on Tuesday night, they lost 7-2 on Wednesday night to the sixth-place Cougars.
Penalty trouble cost the Rockets in the first period when the Cougars got goals from Koehn Ziemmer and Husdon Thornton just 36 seconds apart, both on the powerplay.
Prince George made it 3-0 halfway through the second period when Chase Wheatcroft scored his 31st goal of the season.
Under three minutes later the Rockets got on the board when Ethan Middelsteadt scored his third of the season from Carson Golder.
That's two goals from defenceman Ethan Mittelsteadt in his last four games. pic.twitter.com/vPG3RPvDLy
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) February 9, 2023
Before the end of the second period, Zac Funk found the back of the net to make it 4-1 for the Cougars.
After Jaxsen Wiebe made it 5-1, Rockets captain Gabriel Szturc scored a powerplay goal to extend his point streak to five games. The goal, assisted by Golder and defenceman Caden Price, was his 15th of the season.
22 seconds later Wheatcroft scored his second goal of the game to make it 6-2. The Cougars would add another goal late, making it 7-2.
The Cougars peppered 43 shots on Rockets goaltender Jari Kykkanen, who made 36 saves in the loss. Kelowna only registered 17 shots in the game, with just three of them coming in the third period.
Despite the two straight losses, the Rockets are sitting in the eighth and final playoff spot in the WHL’s Western Conference - 17-28-3-0.
The two teams will travel on Thursday and finish their stretch of three games in four days on Friday when they meet in Kelowna at Prospera Place. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m.
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