Tonight’s Preview: Playing in May is
never a bad thing. The Kelowna Rockets and Portland Winterhawks meet tonight in
game five of the Western Conference championship series. This best of seven is
tied at two wins apiece with the Rockets winning games one and four while the
Winterhawks earned victories in game two and three. Following game five
tonight, the series heads back to Portland for game six on Sunday (5 P.M). If a
seventh and deciding game is necessary, it will be played Tuesday night in
Kelowna.
Series Scoring by
Period:
1
2 3 Total
Rockets 1 8
2 11
Winterhawks 5 6
3 14
Game by Game Scores:
Game one: 3-2 Kelowna Game
three: 7-3 Portland Game five: ?
Game two: 3-2 Portland Game four: 3-2 Kelowna Game
six: ?
Broadcasters Notebook: The Winterhawks have
opened the scoring in three of the four games…The Rockets have out-shot the Winterhawks
in three of the four games…The Rockets best period in the series has been the
second where they have scored eight of their 11 goals….Of the 25 goals scored
between the two teams in the first four games, 14 have been scored in the
middle frame….The Rockets have scored a power play goal in three of the four
games, the exception being game one when both teams were 0 for 2….The Rockets
are 4 for 13 (31%) on the power play in this series….The Winterhawks are 5 for
20 (25%) in the four games…Easy math shows you the Rockets have been
shorthanded seven more times than Portland….In all four games, either the Rockets
or Winterhawks have generated over 40 shots on net, but neither team has
accomplished the feat in the same game…The Rockets had a series high 46 shots
on net in game one.
Hot to Trot: Leon Draisaitl has
scored in back-to-back games…Tyson Baillie’s ten game point streak was snapped
in game two. Baillie had 7+6=13 over that period…Gage Quinney has goals in four
of his last seven playoff games….Nick Merkley
had his nine game point streak snapped Tuesday night. Merkley had 1+11=12 over
that period....Madison Bowey had his
nine game point streak Tuesday night. Bowey had 4+8=12 over that stretch….Leon
Draisaitl had his seven game point streak snapped in game two. The 19 year-old
had 2+11=13 in those seven games.
This and That: Nick Merkley has the
same number of points (17) as he did in last year’s WHL playoffs, but in one
fewer game…This is the 86th game of the season for the Rockets this
evening. That includes 72 regular season games and now its 14th
playoff game….Tyrell Goulbourne snapped a 10 game goal scoring drought in this
year’s playoffs with the game winner in game four….It was Goulbourne’s first
goal in 17 playoff games dating back to 2014 when he found the back of the net by
scoring in back-to-back games in a second round series against Seattle…Goulbourne
has a team high 47 playoff games under his belt…Tyson Baillie hasn’t scored in
all four games in this series. Baillie found the back of the net five times in
a second round series with Victoria…Madison Bowey has 43 games of playoff
experience…The Rockets played in 14 post season games last season …Cole Martin
has 43 playoff games on his resume….In total, the Rockets have 526 games of
playoff experience in the lineup this evening…Rourke Chartier had 6 goals in 14
games in last year’s playoffs. In this year’s post season, the now 19 year-old
(turned 19 April 3rd) has nine goals in twelve games….Only two
Rockets celebrate birthdays in May. Joe Gatenby turns 18 on May 15th
while Nick Merkley blows out the same number of candles on May 23rd.
Additional Info: The Rockets are back
to the Western Conference final for a second consecutive season against the
same team that knocked them out in five games one year ago. The Rockets are 10
and 3 in post season with a four game sweep over Tri City in round one and a
five game series win over Victoria in round two. For what it’s worth, the
Rockets and Winterhawks met four times this season, but hadn’t seen one another
since late November prior to the start of the series. The Rockets were 1-1-2-0
in the four games. This is the eighth consecutive appearance in the post season
for the Rockets and 19th time in the franchises 20 year history.
Playoff history vs.
Winterhawks: These
two teams are meeting for the fourth time ever in the playoffs. In the 2011
post season, the Winterhawks beat the Rockets in a second round series (4 games
to 2). In 2012, the Winterhawks swept the Rockets in an opening round series in
four straight games. In the 2014 post season, the Winterhawks eliminated the
Rockets in the Western Conference final (4 games to 1).
Rockets best vs.
Winterhawks: Rourke
Chartier had 5+2=7 in the four game seasonal series against Portland. Madison
Bowey was 1+3=4 while Nick Merkley chipped in with four assists. It should be
noted that Cole Martin had two goals against the Winterhawks. Jackson Whistle
played in all four games, posting a goals against average of 2.71 with an
impressive save percentage of .928. Chase De Leo (3+1=4), Oliver Bjorkstrand
(2+2=4) and Alex Schoenborn (2+2=4) paced Portland in the four games. Adin Hill
was 2-0-0-0 with a goals against average of 1.78 and a save percentage of .941.
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