Rockets posted Mar 4, 2017 @ 10:45pm by KelownaNow Staff

Rockets execute comeback after solving Sarthou

The Kelowna Rockets got off to a rocky start on Saturday, falling behind 2-0 to the visiting Tri-City Americans in the first period. In the end, the Rockets were able to find a way past the wall of Evan Sarthou to grab their 40th win, 4-2.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>That stare down though.

Starter Brodan Salmond was relieved by Michael Herringer to start the second period. Neither goal scored on Salmond looked particularly bad, but head coach Jason Smith made the decision to switch things up in the crease.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>Sarthou gave the Americans a fighting chance in the first two frames, stopping 36 Rockets' shots.

Sometimes a goaltender change is enough to shake the team up too. The Rockets were having a very tough time getting anything past Americans' star netminder Evan Sarthou, but the tides changed once Dillon Dube got in tight from the bottom of the circle and roofed the puck on Sarthou in the dying seconds of the second period.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>Dillon Dube added two goals to his tally of 15 this season on Saturday.

The goaltender stopped 36 shots until he let the 37th one in. That was such an important goal, the Rockets needed to go into the dressing room knowing that Sarthou would not be perfect on the night.

Quick look at Dube's snipe #Dubes #tuck #roofdaddy 👀 🎯 pic.twitter.com/yecJnG86jc
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) March 5, 2017

In the third, the Rockets got to him early when Reid Gardiner scored his 14th while Sarthou was scrambling around not knowing where the puck was. A minute later Nolan Foote scored a beauty of a goal, his 16th of the season and the game winner.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>Nolan Foote sniped for his 16th goal of the season. Kid's alright.

The Americans made a run for it, pulling the goalie early at 18:11, but Dube put his 15th into the empty net to put the game away.

The Rockets are a perfect 4-0 against the Americans on the season. Herringer earned his 29th win, stopping all 15 shots he faced. Sarthou ended the game with an impressive 39 saves.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>Michael Herringer relieved Salmond to start the second period and helped the Rockets to their fourth straight win.

Kelowna is now solidly in second place in the B.C. division now with 85 points. Kamloops has 82 and the Rockets have a game in hand.

<who>Photo Credit: KelownaNow</who>Kyle Topping and Rodney Southam both had solid games on Saturday. Topping put a number of shots on net while Southam kept the physical game moving.

The Rockets play the next five games at home before finishing the season on the road against Vancouver. Next up, they face the Victoria Royals at Prospera Place on Tuesday, March 7th.

Tickets are available for Rockets home games through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.

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