Kelowna Rockets snap 9-game losing skid with win over Lethbridge

The Kelowna Rockets finally halted their lengthy losing streak on Tuesday night.

At Prospera Place, Gabriel Szturc tallied three points, with a goal and two assists, as the Rockets posted a 4-1 win over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Tij Iginla, Marcus Pacheco and Caden Price also scored for Kelowna (8-12-2-0), which entered last night’s contest riding a nine-game losing streak.

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“Our group came to play,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette. “It was nice to see our goaltender cover up a lot of mistakes that we made, but also watch our players do what they’ve been doing over the last little bit and get rewarded for it. To lock it down was something that we haven’t been able to do. I’m real proud of our group.”

The Rockets, who led 1-0 after the second when Szturc opened the scoring at 8:16 of the middle frame, were outscored 34-20 during that losing streak.

Lethbridge tied it at 5:05 of the third, but Iginla put the home team ahead at 10:00, with Pachecho making it 3-1 at 13:56 on the power play. Price closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:00.

Scoring for Lethbridge (12-9-2-0) was Logan Wormald.

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Jari Kykkanen, who had missed several games recently due to an undisclosed upper-body injury, stopped 34 of 35 shots for the Rockets. Harrison Meneghin turned aside 23 of 26 shots for the Hurricanes.

Kelowna was 1-for-6 on the power play while Lethbridge was 0-for-4.

The Rockets had little time to celebrate Tuesday’s win, as they quickly hit the road for a Wednesday night game in Kent, Wash., against the Seattle Thunderbirds (9-8-1-0).

Kelowna will host Seattle on Saturday night. Last season, Seattle had a stacked roster and cruised to the WHL championship, but fell in the championship game of the Memorial Cup in Kamloops, losing 5-0 to the Quebec Remparts.

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That game will include the Rockets’ annual teddy bear toss. Fans are asked to bring new, stuffed toys no bigger than 12 inches to the rink. Bags and twist ties will be available at the rink.

When the Rockets score their first goal, fans can throw the bagged teddy bears onto the ice, which will then be collected and donated to patients at Kelowna General Hospital.