KELOWNA 4
VICTORIA 2
Leon Draisaitl once more showed the Victoria Royals why pundits refer to him as the German Gretzky. The native of Cologne again went No. 99 on the Royals. For the second time in three games against Victoria, Draisaitl scored the winner as the Kelowna Rockets defeated the Royals 4-2 Wednesday before 5,061 fans at Prospera Place in the Okanagan.
The No. 3 overall selection in the 2014 NHL draft, who began the season with 37 games for the Edmonton Oilers, broke a 2-2 tie by positioning on the crease at 13:22 of the third period. Draisaitl, with 12 goals and 35 points in 21 games with Kelowna, also scored the winner from the same location with 42 seconds remaining last Friday in a 3-2 Rockets victory in Victoria.
“[Draisaitl] has played in the NHL. He’s a good player. He’s scored two winning goals on us from the same spot. We have to take away his time and space,” said Victoria coach Dave Lowry.
The Royals (33-24-4) were left to rue their special teams. Not only did they fail to score on seven power plays, but they allowed a short-handed insurance goal by Tyson Baillie at 15:57 of the third.
“Our power play wasn’t good enough,” said Lowry.
“[Rockets] won the special-teams battle. And if you don’t win the special-teams battle this time of year, chances are you are not going to win the game.”
Goals by Austin Carroll, with his team-leading 35th, and Greg Chase, the 18th for the NHL Oilers-signed forward, gave Victoria a 2-0 first-period lead. Kelowna leveled in the second period through puck-moving blueliner Madison Bowey and over-ager Chance Braid, the latter on the power play.
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The WHL-leading Rockets, ranked No. 2 in the Canadian Hockey League, moved to 47-10-4.
Justin Paulic, third star in Saturday’s 5-2 Royals victory over the Rockets in Victoria, made 25 saves for the visitors Wednesday. Michael Herringer from Comox, who has been carrying the load in the crease for Kelowna since Jackson Whistle underwent appendix surgery Feb. 6, also made 25 saves.
The Rockets lead the season series against the Royals 5-2.
The Royals continue on the road Friday in Kamloops before returning home for a two-game set Monday and Tuesday against the Seattle Thunderbirds and projected 2015 top-10 NHL draft pick Mathew Barzal.
