Home Ice Disadvantage In This Series

• You will have to pardon the Kelowna Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds for not feeling overly excited playing a playoff game on home ice. For the fourth straight game the road team rallied and earned the win in a series which is now down to a best of three. The Seattle Thunderbirds earned a 6-4 win Tuesday night, erasing a 2-0 series deficit after losing the first two games on home ice to the Rockets by scores of 3-2 and 3-1.
• In the last eleven playoff meetings between these two teams dating back to the 2005 post season the visiting team has won 10 of those 11 games.
• The Rockets won't like the officiating after this one, but will the Thunderbirds not have the same view? The Rockets were up 2-0 early and had outshot the visitors 8-0, yet found themselves two men down after penalties to Tysen Dowzak and Milan Kytnar. The penalties allowed the T-Birds to get back in the game, because up until that point the Rockets were in total command. That said, how bad was that penalty shot call that Kyle St. Denis was awarded? Steve Papp stunk, and fellow referee Trevor Hanson was equally inept.
• For the first time in this series the Rockets opened the scoring, with Brady Leavold lighting the lamp just 25 seconds into the game. Jamie Benn would make it 2-0 on a power play goal less than five minutes in. After that goal though, T-Birds head coach Rob Sumner elected to pull starting goaltender Jacob DeSerres for Riku Helenius. The change was likely made in an effort to give his team some momentum, and indeed it worked. The visitors would score back-to-back goals on the power play as the two teams skated into the first intermission tied at two.
• Again specialty teams played a huge factor in this game. The T-Birds would score three power play goals and received a short handed goal from Greg Scott in the third period to give the T-Birds a 5-4 lead, a lead they would never relinquish. The Rockets had just one power play goal, but got a gift when Kyle St. Denis was rewarded with a penalty shot with the home team trailing 4-3. St. Denis would score to make it a 4-4 tie, before Scott's shorthanded goal 1:04 later would stand up as the game winner.
• Colin Long had a goal and two assists in the loss. Long now has a point in every game in this series. Brady Leavold again scored, and now has 3 goals in four games.
• I couldn't help but notice the T-Birds shooting high on Rockets goaltender Kristofer Westblom. Of the six goals scored, five were scored on shots that either beat Westblom high to the glove hand or blocker side. When it comes to the playoffs, both teams are keenly aware of the oppositions weaknesses, including the shortcomings of the goaltenders.
• This series is now down to a best of three. The first team to win two games advances to the next round. While game five is Thursday in Seattle, a game six will be played in Kelowna Saturday night.
• Vancouver Canucks Director of Player Personnel Steve Tambellini took in Tuesday's game.