The Kelowna Rockets blasted past the Victoria Royals with an 8-4 win on home ice Saturday night.
Kole Lind fired a shot past Royals goaltender Griffen Outhouse about three minutes into the game.
Kelowna’s captain Cal Foote then extended Kelowna’s lead by redirecting a pass from Dillon Dube.
Dube followed up with a goal of his own on the power play to give the Rockets a comfortable three-point lead.
The Royals finally scored their first point during a power play just before the end of the first period. Tyler Soy shot the puck past 15-year-old goaltender Cole Tisdale, who was making his WHL debut start.
Half a minute into the second period, Kyle Topping found the back of the net during a Rockets power play to regain the three goal lead.
Victoria’s Matthew Phillips and Dante Hannoun both followed up with goals, scoring on power plays for the Royals, to bring the score up to 4-3.
Leif Mattson fired back three minutes before the end of the second period, giving the Rockets a two-goal lead.
Kelowna’s Jack Cowell extended that lead just 16 seconds into the final period.
Less than a minute later, Carsen Twarynski followed up with another goal for the Rockets, returning them to a comfortable four-point lead.
The Royals pulled their goalie with seven minutes left, but Cowell tucked one into the empty net to give the Rockets an 8-3 lead.
The Royals’ Igor Martynov was awarded a penalty shot with four minutes left, and he scored the last goal for the game.
The final score was 8-4 for the Rockets.
Tisdale stopped 23 of 27 shots in the win.
The Rockets now head on a three-game road trip through Alberta. They will take on Lethbridge for the last time during the regular season on Wednesday. The puck drops at 6 p.m.