“It was good to see us rally, and play our game - it felt good.” said Fisher.
The Royals got a pair of goals from Taylor Crunk to help earn the split in the two game set after falling 3-2 one night earlier.
“They’re a tough group to contain, the only way we were going to give ourselves a chance to win was we had to play on the right side of the puck, play in the middle of the ice - and tonight our guys did a real good job.” - Head Coach Dave Lowry
They’ll face the number 1 team in the WHL for a 3rd straight meeting in Kelowna (46-10-3-1, 90pts) on Wednesday.
“I thought tonight we had a lot of guys that really elevated their game. They wore their hearts on their sleeves. It was an emotional game but I thought that our guys did a really good job of staying in the moment and in control.” said Lowry
Victoria broke a 1-1 third period tie with 3 straight goals by Brandon Magee (17th), Jack Walker (16th) and Crunk his 2nd of the night and 8th of the year.
“We executed our game plan which was being disciplined, getting pucks deep, getting pucks on net. We stuck to it the entire game and it worked out.” said Crunk
Leon Draisaitl cut the lead in half with a power play goal with 3 minutes left, but with the goaltender pulled, Travis Brown buried the insurance marker into the empty net.
Brown leads all defenseman in goals with 17 and with 53 points is only 2 back of Calgary’s Travis Sanheim (55pts) and teammate Joe Hicketts (55pts) for tops in rearguard scoring in the WHL.
Justin Paulic made 31 saves for the victory, while Michael Herringer stopped 34 as the Royals outshot the Rockets 39-33.
Victoria was 0 for 3 on the power play, while Kelowna was 1 for 3.
The Royals remain in 2nd in the BC Division with 70 points, while the Rockets claimed the division title after Friday nights win with 90 points.
Victoria held off the leagues 4th and 5th top scorers for a second consecutive night in Nick Merkley and Rourke Chartier. Draisaitl now has 7 points in 3 games versus the Royals.
Victoria will visit Kelowna Wednesday and Kamloops next Friday in a 2 game BC Division road swing.
- Marlon Martens
Kelowna Rockets 2 at Victoria Royals 5 - Status: Final
Saturday, February 21, 2015 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Kelowna 1 0 1 - 2
Victoria 1 0 4 - 5
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Crunk 7 (Fisher), 3:41.
2, Kelowna, Dube 15 (Baillie, Quinney), 5:47.
Penalties-Sayers Vic (hooking), 11:44; Merkley Kel (tripping), 11:53; Baillie Kel (slashing), 15:50; Magee Vic (interference), 19:22; Draisaitl Kel (roughing), 20:00; Hicketts Vic (roughing), 20:00.
2nd Period- No Scoring.
Penalties-Merkley Kel (roughing), 16:46; Walker Vic (cross checking), 16:46; Goulbourne Kel (hooking), 18:22.
3rd Period-
3, Victoria, Magee 17 (Fushimi, Forsberg), 6:39.
4, Victoria, Walker 16 (Fisher), 8:04.
5, Victoria, Crunk 8 (Fisher), 14:07.
6, Kelowna, Draisaitl 11 (Morrissey), 17:00 (PP).
7, Victoria, Brown 17 (Fisher, Gagnon), 17:37 (EN).
Penalties-Fisher Vic (slashing), 15:58.
Shots on Goal-
Kelowna 10-13-10-33.
Victoria 15-12-12-39.
Power Play Opportunities-
Kelowna 1 / 3;
Victoria 0 / 3.
Goalies-
Kelowna, Herringer 7-2-0-0 (38 shots-34 saves).
Victoria, Paulic 13-11-1-1 (33 shots-31 saves).
A-6,867
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Chad Williams (60).
Linesmen-Riley Friesen (76), Jacob Hill (122).
