Fire wagon hockey

• We likely blame head coaches too much when they lose and give them far too much credit when they win. That said, you can't ignore the strings Kelowna Rockets head coach Kris Mallette has pulled in order to get the best from his players. The latest example came Wednesday night against the visiting Vancouver Giants. Mallette had to make the tough decision to tell 16 year-old Andrew Cristall that he can be better. That also meant sitting the marquee forward for a game to get his point across. Fast forward four night's later and Cristall is back in the lineup, but penciled on the teams fourth line. Instead of moping, Cristall assists on two goals and then goes out and scores the winner in overtime in a 7-6 victory. Cristall answered the bell. The end result looks great on not only the player but the coach for making the hard decision to sit a player if he under preforms. It tells me that Mallette isn't hesitant on making a tough decision and the players, or in this case Cristall, is buying in to what Mallette is preaching.
• Thank goodness Cristall had no other option but to shoot the puck on the game winning goal. It was the only shot he took all night. One shot - one goal. A pass first player, I'd like him to be more trigger happy. It will come. It will come. In the last four games, Cristall has just 4 shots on net.
• Mallette was all smiles after last night's game. Did he like the 7-6 score? He liked the end result but again, far too many goals scored for the opposition for his liking. Giants head coach Mike Dyck, who rarely smiles, wouldn't have been happy with the high flying affair either. It marked the first time since November 8, 2019 that the Rockets and an opponent put up 13 goals. The Medicine Hat Tigers came into Prospera Place and earned a 8-5 win. 

  

  Jake Lee 

• One area Mallette has vowed to work on is his team taking dumb penalties. So far, so good. The Rockets average the third fewest trips to the penalty box. Only Saskatoon and Victoria are better.  The Royals are the least penalized. Not bad for a team that, up until this point, doesn't have the puck often.
• It was a first for Jake Lee. The 20 year-old found the back of the net twice. His biggest goal was the one that came on the power play with :39 seconds remaining in regulation time to tie the score at 6. Give credit to Gabriel Szturc for getting into the eye-line of Giants goalie Jesper Vickman, which made the goal possible. Without that screen, my bet is that puck doesn't go in. Small details make a massive difference. 
• With Lee scoring twice last night, it made me wonder when the last time a Rockets d-man scored three goals in a game. The last one to do it was not on my radar. Devante Stephens scored three times against the Portland Winterhawks October 29/2016 in a 5-3 victory. I would have put my money on Cal Foote, but he never found the back of the net three times in one game. 
• Watch the highlites of last night's game. Check out how Turner McMillen is able to thread the needle on a perfect pass to captain Tyson Feist to make it 3-1. McMillen has to pass the puck to Feist from the far boards to the 20 year-old at the far, right face-off circle. In the path is a broken stick on the ice. McMillen has to pass the puck through a small window to hit Feist's blade. It's a pretty spectacular pass. 
• Fair to say a rough night for Kelowna Rockets starter Colby Knight. The 18 year-old was yanked after giving up 4 goals on 7 shots. Cole Tisdale came into the game and was steady enough to earn the win. Picking up a teammate. Tisdale did it wonderfully in a relief appearance.
• The Rockets won for the first time after trailing 5-4 after 40 minutes. Up until that point, the Rockets were 0 and 3 when trailing after 2 periods. The Giants were 4-0 when having the lead.
• Fighting. Does it have a purpose? It is hard to argue that it doesn't after a tilt between Tyson Feist and Giants pest Justin Lies. Lies did a bit of show boating last Friday after a tilt with Rockets rookie Rilen Kovacevic. You couldn't help but notice Lies putting his arms in the air and gesturing to the hometown crowd as he skated off the ice. Well, Fiest took a number that night. Fast forward to last night where Feist engages in a scrap with Lies and dominates. It was a beat down as Lies elected to scrap with a player who wasn't afraid to step up for a teammate. Props to Feist for laying a beatdown and providing another reason why he was the right choice to be named captain. I don't like senseless fighting. I thought this was an awfully good reason to engage in fisticuffs. 
• Noland Flamand had a 4 assist game. He received high praise from his head coach after the game as one of the most trusted forwards on his roster.
  As Kris Mallette would say, 'he plays the right way'. Two seasons ago, Pavel Novak had a 4 assist game against the Tri City Americans.
• Shoot the puck. The Rockets have fired a combined 82 shots at the opposition net in the last two games. That is 42 against Victoria and 40 shots against the Giants.  
• The Rockets are undefeated on home ice. 3-0-0-0 is a nice start heading into back-to-back home games this weekend against Portland (Friday) and Prince George (Saturday).