(Courtesy: Kelowna Rockets)
The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 Saturday night in Manitoba to take a two-games-to-nothing lead in the WHL Championship with the series heading back to Kelowna.
“It’s great. Coming home with two wins is huge for us especially when we have three games in a row at home,” says Rockets forward Tyson Baillie.
Nick Merkley scored a dandy short-handed goal midway through the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and send the Rockets onto the win. It was Merkley’s second of the game and stood up as the winner.
“I thought our line started clicking, Leon Draisaitl and Rourke Chartier, they really helped me out and I thought we played a good game last night,” says Merkley who was the game’s first star.
Kelowna jumped out to a 3-1 lead, scoring late in the first and early in the second period, much like they did in the game one win. Rourke Chartier scored his 10th of the post season to open the scoring while Merkley’s first of the night came with just three seconds left in the first.
Gage Quinney gave Kelowna 3-1 lead scoring his 5th of the playoffs just 27 seconds into the second as the Rockets took a two goal lead to the third. But Brandon forward Peter Quenneville scored twice to tie the game at 3-3 early in the third, setting the stage for Merkley’s heroics.
Head Coach Dan Lambert had high praise for the play of goaltender Jackson Whistle.
“In the second game had Jackson Whistle not been real sharp for us we would have fallen behind. Little things make a difference and often it’s your goal-tending and Jackson was great for us.”
The win gives the Rockets a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game three is Monday, game four is Wednesday and game five goes Friday if necessary.
“It’s probably one of the biggest games of the series. We know they’re going to come out hard and we’ve got to come out just as hard if not harder. So that’s our main goal right now and we’ve got to get ready for tomorrow night’s game,” says Rockets captain Madison Bowey.
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