Rockets a handful on home ice

Rookie Marcus Pacheco unloading one of his career high 6 shots on net 

Wrestling fans would call it an old fashioned beat down.

The old timers would categorize it as taking the opposition to the woodshed.

The mathematicians in the crowd would use these numbers: 15-5.

Whichever way you want to slice it, the Kelowna Rockets showed little mercy Saturday night in a 9-1 dismantling of the Victoria Royals. Out-scoring them 15-5 in back-to-back games, the nine goal outburst saw Jake Poole put up 5 points (1+4=5) while Pavel Novak and Adam Kydd scored twice in the lopsided win. The accelerator was applied early in this one with the home team building up a five goal first period lead. Unlike the previous night where the Royals scored three of its four goals on the power play in a 6-4 loss, it appeared the visitors just ran out of gas in this one and not even its power play could keep them close. Dealing with injury and players in COVID protocol, the Rockets took full advantage. Before we feel sorry for the opponent, let's remember the home team was playing without its best d-man (Jake Lee), it's fifth leading scorer (Nolan Flamand) and arguably it's best forechecker (Mark Liwiski). Lee was ill. Flamand is hurt and Liwiski was serving game two of a two game suspension. To suggest the Rockets were at full strength and the Royals were not would be inaccurate. 

• Up until last night, the Rockets highest goal total was 7. They beat Vancouver 7-6 in overtime and earned a 7-4 win against Kamloops prior to the Christmas break. The team hasn't scored 9 goals since January 2017 when they beat the Royals 9-2. That season they put up 10 goals in one game in a 10-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
• Do the Rockets have scoring depth? Well, the team has 8 players with 20 or more points. Tyson Feist and Gabriel Szturc are one point shy of joining that group. By comparison, the Royals have just three. First place Kamloops has 9 players with 20 or more points.
• He may be the quietest player on the team. Heck, he sits behind me in the bus so I should know. It is likely the reason why I really like Marcus Pacheco. As a shy, quiet teenager myself, I can relate. I was so pleased to see him score his first career goal last night. 'Patches' as he is known by his teammates, the 16 year-old is such an elite skater, but his lack of finding the back of the net had to be weighing heavily on him. I loved the fact that head coach Kris Mallette wasn't going to take him off the power play in an effort to get that elusive - first one! I also enjoyed the celebration from his teammates when they rallied around him when he found pay dirt. It is one of those regular season 'memorable moments' for me. I can only image how the 16 year-old felt with the monkey off his shoulders. 
• Small observation. Is goaltender Talyn Boyko tracking the puck better? In my opinion he is. In dealing with traffic, he is able to make saves and look around opposing forwards more proficiently. Maybe goaltending coach Eli Wilson gets credit here. The extra work has paid off. 
• Boyko has one loss in his last 9 starts. The 19 year-old has started a career high 10 straight. 
• He can't complain. Boyko has started 17 of the last 18 games. He leads the league in saves and is second in minutes played. 
• Tyson Feist had a nice weekend. Physical and setting the tone early. No less than six big hits were applied at his own blue line. Word to the wise. Keep your head up!!
• Do I dare say the Rockets have once again re-established themselves on home ice? Remember when opposition teams had little hope when entering Prospera Place that they would exit with two points? The Rockets used to be one of the best home ice teams in the league. They lost that certain something when they went 14-15-4-1 in 2018-2019. It felt odd to see the team be so ordinary on home ice. It appears now, with 13 home ice victories, the mojo is back. The 13 wins ties them with Everett for the Western Conference lead. 
• With much uncertaintly in this COVID world, the plan is for the team to begin a stretch of five straight games on the road. It starts Friday night in Everett followed by a stop in Vancouver Saturday. Then it's off Victoria for two games before another stop against the Giants on January 28th. That is 5 games in 8 nights for those counting.   
• I did some digging. Royals forward Bailey Peach has 21 goals in 32 games. He is currently on the exact same pace as Matthew Phillips, who scored 50 goals with Victoria in 2016-2017. That season, Phillips had 50+40=90 points.