Royals’ third period comeback falls short in 6-4 loss to Rockets

Despite a pair of goals from forward Brayden Shuurman and another multi-point performance from Bailey Peach, the Victoria Royals suffered a 6-4 loss to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night.

Rockets’ forward Jake Poole scored twice and was named first star in the win, while teammate Pavel Novak brought home the second star with a three point (one goal, two assists) performance.

The Royals were playing in their first game in 14 days after a whirlwind start to 2022 that saw the team have several of their games postponed and be briefly put on pause by the league after several positive COVID tests among their staff and players.

Victoria would show some rust early in this one, allowing the Rockets to jump out to an early lead with forward Jake Poole scoring his eighth of the campaign at 4:17 of the first.

Kelowna nearly made it 2-0 midway through the frame, but a sprawling save by Victoria goaltender denied the Rockets an open-net opportunity and the period would expire with Kelowna still up by one.

The Rockets upped their attack early in the second, scoring on the power play at 6:21 of the period with a goal by leading scorer Pavel Novak. His 14th goal of the year made it 2-0 for the home team. Kelowna would strike again a little over a minute later on a goal by forward Dylan Wightman at 7:23, giving his team a commanding 3-0 lead midway through the frame.

However, the Rockets’ shutout would not last long as the Royals finally got on the board at 7:56 when forward Brayden Shuurman netted his 18th goal of the season to cut the Rockets lead to 3-1.

Meanwhile, forward Bailey Peach, who recorded an assist on the goal, extends his scoring streak to seven games and gives him 45 total points on the season.

Kelowna would get one back late in the second, making it 4-1 on a goal by Turner McMillan at 14:49. Their three goal lead would hold as the game entered its final period.

The start of the third saw the Rockets take a pair of penalties, giving the Royals a two-man advantage. On the ensuing powerplay, forward Bailey Peach would net his 21st goal of the season at 2:13 of the period, giving him his 15th multi-point game on the season and cutting the Kelowna lead to 4-2.

Still with the man-advantage, Victoria would cut the Rockets’ lead to one at 2:42 of the period with forward Riley Gannon’s 10th goal of the campaign.

However, the Rockets would respond, once again opening up a two-point advantage at 6:05 on a goal by Scott Cousins, his first of the year.

Kelowna would add to their 5-3 lead at 11:06 on Jake Poole’s second of the night and ninth of the season, taking a three goal advantage into the late stages of the game.

With under five minutes in regulation, the Rockets’ Tyson Feist took a slashing minor, putting the Royals on the power play for the ninth time in the game. Brayden Shuurman would score his second goal of the night and 18th of the season at 17:40 to bring his team within two in the game’s final minutes. The Abbotsford, BC native has tallied seven goals in six games against Kelowna this year.

However, their comeback would fall short as they failed to capitalize on some late opportunities, and Kelowna would escape with the 6-4 victory.

Rockets goaltender Talyn Boyko stopped 38 of the 42 shots on the way to his 12th win of the season. Meanwhile, Royals net-minder Tyler Palmer made 21 of 27 saves in the loss.

The loss moves Victoria’s record to 12-15-4-0 on the season and knocks them out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the west.

On the home side, the Rockets improve their record to 17-10-1-3 as they remain in fifth place in the conference.

The two teams will face off for a second straight night on Saturday, puck drop is set for 7:05pm at Prospera place in Kelowna.