For a second straight night, Jari Kykkanen was the game’s best player.
At Kelowna, Kykkanen backstopped the Rockets to a 3-1 victory over Wenatchee on Wednesday, turning aside 34 of 35 shots, in their first-round playoff series with the Wild.
The tall, 6-4 netminder from Lloydminster, Alta., was named the first star, as he was in Kelowna’s 5-1 win on Tuesday night when he stopped 31 of 32 shots.
“An understatement that Jari kept us in it,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette, whose team now leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can close it out with a win in Game 5 in Wenatchee on Friday night.
“We had a great first period, a little bit of a lull and didn’t give up much. The second and third were a completely different story, really lopsided and the ice was tilted, Jari was dialed (in). Traffic, rebound control, whatever it was, he fought and gave us a chance. He’s a big reason for that (win) tonight.”
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Max Graham, Tij Iginla and Gabriel Szturc scored for Kelowna, which led 2-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks. Szturc closed out the scoring at 8:58 of the third.
Kenta Isogai replied for Wenatchee, which outshot Kelowna 35-33. Daniel Hauser made 30 saves for the Wild.
The Rockets were 1-for-2 on the power play while the Wild were 0-for-3.
Wednesday’s attendance was 4,007.
In other WHL action, the Prince George Cougars advanced to the second round after beating the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 on Wednesday for a 4-0 series sweep.
The Cougars finished first overall in the Western Conference, and will likely face the winner of Wenatchee-Kelowna after dispatching eighth-ranked Spokane.
The second-ranked Portland Winterhawks swept seventh-ranked Victoria and third-ranked Everett has a 2-1 series lead over sixth-ranked Vancouver.
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