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Rockets captain Lucas Bloodoff mixes it up in front of the Americans' goal in game three of the semifinal series between Kelowna and Tri-City. (Photo Joe Fries)
By Pieter Uni
The Kelowna Rockets will need to shrug off Tuesday night’s disappointing result if they are to tie their WHL Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece before heading back to Tri-Cities for game five.
After suffering their first loss on home ice during the 2010 playoffs Tuesday night, the Rockets will need to pick up their effort level if they hope to avoid a second consecutive loss at Prospera Place.
“We talked about it day in and day out, to win games in the playoffs, especially for our team, we need to have everybody going and we need to play for 60 minutes,” said captain Lucas Bloodoff, adding he expects a better effort tonight.
Despite grabbing home-ice advantage with a win in game two in Kennewick, WA, the Rockets came out flat against the Americans and allowed the visitors to strike first.
Sergei Drozd notched his third goal of the series at 15:04 of the first, before Johnny Lazo added a second goal in the middle stanza that seemed to deflate the Rockets. While the home team pushed to level the score in the third, they ran up against a hot goaltender in Drew Owsley. The Tri-City netminder made 13 of his 31 saves in the third period en route to his first shutout in the 2010 playoffs.
For Kelowna’s Mark Guggenberger, the key to tonight’s game is forgetting about the past.
“I think it is short-term memory,” he said when asked about how the Rockets will deal with the game three defeat. “We definitely have to get it out of our system.”
If a win is in the cards for Kelowna, the home side must improve on their power play. The Rockets went 0-4 with the man advantage Tuesday night and are now an anemic 1-7 in three games against the Americans.
Game four is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start tonight at Prospera Place.
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Tags: Kelowna Rockets, tri-city americans, whl
