The 琉璃神社 Rockets star players shined as they finished their three-game homestand with a 5-3 comeback victory against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
Andrew Cristall collected another four-point night while Hiroki Gojsic, Tij Iginla, Caden Price, and Jakub Stancl also all had multi-point night.
琉璃神社 found themselves down 1-0 after the first period but tied the game early in the second when Iginla scored his team-high 11th goal of the year, assisted by Michael Cicek and Gojsic.
However, the Thunderbirds scored twice in the period to lead 3-1 after two periods.
The third period belonged to the Rockets, as the comeback was on. Just 1:22 into the frame, Gojsic scored his fourth goal of the season, on the powerplay, assisted by Cristall and Price to make it a one-goal game.
Just over seven minutes into the period, the powerplay was clicking again as Cristall scored his ninth of the campaign to tie the game at three. Price and Iginla assisted on the marker.
And just 1:32 later, Stancl scored the eventual game-winning goal to make it 4-3. He would add an insurance goal with just over five minutes left in the game to make it 5-3.
鈥淚 thought he played a big man's game,鈥 said Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette about Stancl after the game. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how he鈥檚 going to have success. He鈥檚 got a great shot, I want to see him use it more often 鈥 I think from start to finish in this game he was one of our more complete players. The puck was rolling off his stick early and it was nice to see him get the finishers. Nice to see him get rewarded and another player we鈥檙e going to have to lean on heavily.鈥
Jari Kykkanen got the win after playing just the third period and making five saves on the frame.
After his four-point effort, Cristall now has 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in just 10 games this season.
With the win, the Rockets are now 7-7-1-1 on the year, sitting ninth in the WHL's Western Conference standings.
The Rockets have a tough weekend ahead as they head north to take on the Prince George Cougars on Friday and Saturday night (Nov. 15, 16). Prince George is second in the West with a record of 11-4-3-2.