After having cold water splashed on a three-game winning streak, the Kelowna Rockets are back in action on Friday night as their five-game prairie road trip resumes.
Kelowna opened their East Division adventure by defeating Regina 5-4 last Saturday, then Moose Jaw 2-1 on Tuesday. However, that was followed by a 6-3 loss in Brandon on Wednesday.
Against the Wheat Kings (16-11-4-1), Kelowna (13-15-2-0) was outshot 35-19 and gave up three goals in the second period, turning a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes into an all-but-decided result.
After two periods, Brandon had outshot Kelowna 24-13.
The Rockets scored at 1:15 in the third to make it 4-3, but Brandon struck back at 4:25 with its second power-play goal of the night, then sealed the game with its second short-handed goal of the evening at 12:37.
Andrew Cristall had a goal and two assists for Kelowna, which went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Wheat Kings were 2-for-4 with the extra man.
Tij Iginla and Marek Rocak also scored for the Rockets, who now face the Prince Albert Raiders (17-14-0-2) on Friday night.
Kelowna will close out its trip on Saturday evening against the league-leading Saskatoon Blades (23-8-1-0).
Following Saturday’s contest, the Rockets will be off for 11 days during the WHL’s annual Christmas break. Their next game will be Dec. 27, as they visit the Kamloops Blazers (7-20-3-2). Two days later, on Dec. 29, they will host Kamloops.
Notably, Kamloops is also swinging through the East Division. The Blazers are 0-4 so far, having lost 6-4 to Regina, 6-2 to Brandon, 3-1 to Prince Albert and 5-1 to Saskatoon.