A first-place finish in the B.C. WHL’s Division is still within reach for the Kelowna Rockets.
But after a loss on home ice on Wednesday night, they’ll need some help to overtake the Prince George Cougars.
Carter Hart stopped 26 shots to lead the Everett Silvertips to a 4-1 win at Prospera Place, ending the Rockets’ seven-game winning streak.
After building up a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes, Everett shut the Rockets down in the third period, allowing just five shots on Hart.
“I don’t think we played a good enough game to win,” said Rockets head coach Jason Smith. “We were in the game but we were struggling to get anything going because we weren’t executing well enough.”
“When you’re chasing the game against them and get behind, it’s a tough team to play against,” Smith added. “They play really well defensively, they block lots of shots, they make it hard for you to get the puck to the net.”
‘Tips defenceman Kevin Davis beat Michael Herringer with a shot from the point to open the scoring at 5:30 of the first period.
The Rockets answered just 11 seconds later when Dillon Dube converted a feed from Carsen Twarynski for his 20th of the season.
But Aaron Irving’s 18th goal of the season, another blast from the blueline, midway through the opening period put Everett ahead to stay.
A pair of goals by Dominic Zwerger, the second into an empty net at 18:54 of the third, rounded out the scoring.
“You can take this as a lesson and move forward,” Jason Smith said of his team’s first loss since Feb. 25 to the Seattle Thunderbirds. “We talked about it in the room after the game that we got away from a little bit of the detail, the structure and executing at the level that allows you to have success.”
The Rockets (43-22-5-0) remain two points back (93-91) of the Cougars with two games to play. Kelowna will play a home-and-home against the Vancouver Giants to close out the regular season, while Prince George will do the same against Kamloops.
If the Rockets and Cougars finish tied for first, Kelowna would win the B.C. Division based on the season series between the teams.
Kelowna will host Vancouver Friday, then close out the regular season against the Giants Saturday in Langley.