Final weekend pivotal for playoff berth

Roman Basran - Shoot the Breeze Photography

Game Day Preview: Welcome to the final weekend of the Western Hockey League regular season. The Kelowna Rockets wrap up the 68 game schedule with a home and home series with the Vancouver Giants. The Rockets are 1-6-0-0 in seven of the nine games. The Rockets have scored 11 goals in those seven games, with the lone win coming January 27th in a 4-3 shootout victory. The G-Men have shutout the Rockets twice by scores of 2-0 and 5-0. The two teams meet tomorrow night at Prospera Place in the rematch. Leif Mattson leads the Rockets with 0+7=7 in the seasonal series while Nolan Foote has 4 goals in just 6 games against their BC Division rivals. Kyle Topping has 3 goals and Mark Liwiski has two goals against Vancouver. Roman Basran has played in all 7 games, posting a goals against average of 2.98 with a save percentage of .908. The Rockets are coming off a thrilling 6-5 overtime loss to the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday. Kaedan Korczak had 1+3=4 while Nolan Foote 2+1=3 in the loss, which saw the team score four-third period goals to earn a point. Overall, the Rockets are 11-14-4-2 in 31 games since the Christmas break. The Rockets are 23-21-6-2 in 51 games under head coach Adam Foote.

Race for third place: The Rockets and Blazers are separated by just one point. The Rockets have 2 games left in the regular season finishing off against Vancouver (twice). The Blazers have 2 games left in the regular season. They face the Prince George Cougars in a home and home series.

Better than before: Kyle Topping has a career high 23 goals, 44 assists and 67 points this season, surpassing the 22+43=65 points he put up a year ago. Nolan Foote has 22 more points than last season with a career high 36 goals and 62 points. Foote is one assist shy of his career high 27 assists set last season. Leif Mattson has a career high 62 points after collecting 60 a season ago. Mattson has 5 more assists (40) than a year ago. Kaedan Korczak has 16 more points this season with career highs in goals (4), assists (28) and points (32). 

Who’s Hot: Liam Kindree has points in 5 of his last 9 games. Kindree has 0+5=5 over that period…Kyle Topping has 6+17=23 in his last 22 games…Leif Mattson has 5+11=16 in his last 16 games….Alex Swetlikoff has 5+5=10 in his last 15 games….Nolan Foote has 15+8=23 in his last 22 games….Lassi Thomson has 8+5=13 in his last 21 games …The Rockets have points in 18 of their last 26 home games (13-8-5-0). Mark Liwiski has 7+2=9 in his last 15 games…Shael Higson has 1+6=7 in his last 13 games…Nolan Foote has a shot on goal all but one game this season.

Broadcasters Notebook: Mark Liwiski returns to the line-up after serving a three game suspension. Liwiski was suspended for a hit against the Portland Winterhawks forward Seth Jarvis….Lassi Thomson’s 17 goals are one shy of the franchise record for goals by a European d-man. Tomas Slovak holds the record (18 goals) in 2002-2003….The Rockets were 7-10-3-0 in 20 games against a US Division team this season. Three of the 7 wins came against Tri City with one victory over Spokane, Everett, Seattle and Portland….The Rockets have played 22-one goal games at home this season. Last year they played 15-one goal games at Prospera Place…The team has played in 11-one goal games on the road…The Rockets are 12-16-2-2 against BC Division teams this season…..Adam Foote was officially named the new head coach of the Kelowna Rockets on October 23, 2018 replacing Jason Smith.,.The Rockets are 10-14-2-0 when playing the second game of back-to-backs.

Season Highs/Lows:

Most goals scored: 8 @ Victoria October 19/18 (8-2 W)

Most goals allowed: 9 vs. Seattle October 10^th, 2018 (9-6 L)

Most shots on net: 45 @ Seattle October 6th, 2018 (4-1 L).

Fewest shots on net: 13 @ Edmonton November 17, 2018 (3-1 L)

Most shots allowed: 50 @ Portland November 10, 2018 (3-0 L)

Fewest shots allowed: 16 vs. Victoria December 7, 2018 (2-0 win)

Last time shut out at home: October 3rd, 2018 vs. Vancouver (5-0 L)  

Last time shut out on road: February 1, 2019 @ Spokane (4-0 L)

Last shutout at home: February 23, 2019 vs. Blazers (2-0 W – Roman Basran 18 saves)

Last shutout on the road: January 18, 2019 @ Everett (2-0 W – James Porter 40 saves)

Most power play goals allowed: 4 vs. Seattle October 10^th, 2018 (9-6 L). T-Birds were 4/5 on power play.

Most power play goals scored: 4 @ Victoria October 19, 2018 (8-2 W)

Overtime Games (9): vs. Spokane (6-5 L) March 13/2019, vs. Portland (2-1 L) March 2/2019, vs. Kamloops (2-1 W) February 2, 2019, vs. Seattle (3-2 L) January 30, 2019, @ Kamloops (3-2 L) December 28, 2018, vs. Saskatoon (5-4 L) December 1, 2018, @ Tri City Nov 30, 2018 (3-2 win), @ PG (4-3 L) November 14, 2018, vs. PG (4-3 win) October 27, 2018. 

Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150