Better down 2-0 heading home than vice-versa

• While the Rockets are down 2 games to none in their best of seven series with the Everett Silvertips, it better the Rockets be playing the next two games on home ice than on the road. I wouldn't like the Rockets chances of winning two straight games at Comcast Arena. I believe they can win back-to-back games at Prospera Place though.
• Whoever wins game three wins the series. How's that for a bold statement. Or is that obvious? If the Rockets win, it isn't!
• If you compare Everett's top four scorers from the regular season with the Rockets in this series, it may explain why the Tips have a 2-0 lead. Shane Harper, Tyler Maxwell, Kellan Tochkin and Byron Froese are a combined 4+7=11. The Rockets top four point men - Tyson Barrie, Shane McColgan, Brandon McMillan and Geordie Wudrick are 3+3=6. Only Wudrick has a goal (3 of them) in this series. Harper, Tochkin and Froese all have goals in the first two games.
• A first period goal would go a long way for the Kelowna Rockets in game three. The Rockets have failed to score a goal in the opening 20 minutes, and have trailed 1-0 after the opening period in both games. You don't see much of a difference in the other two periods, where the Tips have out-scored the Rockets 7-6. The Tips have an overtime goal as well.
• Game three is being played on March 23rd. If past playoff battles on that date give the Rockets a good feeling, so be it. The Rockets are 3 and 0 in playoff games on March 23rd dating back to 2000. The Rockets were a 3-0 winner against Kamloops in 2002, a 4-3 overtime winner against Vancouver in 2003 and a 4-0 winner over Kootenay in 2004.
• Oh boy! The Tips are 2-0 since 2000 when it comes to playoff games played on March 23rd. The Tips beat Spokane 5-4 in overtime in 2004 and earned a 4-2 win over the Chiefs in 2007.
• I had a chance to take a look at the video evidence, and indeed Geordie Wudrick did score the Rockets second goal of the game Saturday night. Wudrick now has three goals in two games. The goal was credited to linemate Lucas Bloodoff.
• The biggest surprise for me in this series is the play of Tips forward Clayton Cumiskey. I'll be honest with you, I didn't think much of him when he was a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings. I sure like him now. Cumiskey, who just turned 20 a few days ago, is good at the face-off circle and has been playing to his strengths, which is providing a forecheck and playing physical.
• The Rockets best face-off man in this series may be Spencer Main. I have no data to prove my point, but Main appears to be having the most success at the dot.
• The last time the Rockets and Tips met in a playoff game at Prospera Place was in 2006. The Rockets won that game 3-2 in overtime. Troy Bodie scored the game winner in the second overtime. In fact the Tips have lost back-to-back playoff games in Kelowna. Brent Howarth scored the game winner on home ice in another 3-2 win, this one in regulation time.
• I mentioned that the Rockets need to be more disciplined in this series, but the number of penalties taken as compared to the Tips in the first two games is actually quite close. The Rockets have taken 15 penalties while the Tips have 13.
• It should come as no surprise that the game isn't being called as tighly in the 3rd period as it is in the first. The officials have handed out 11 penalties in the first period compared to just 7 in the third. Not a huge difference, but you get the idea.