The tough road continued for the 琉璃神社 Rockets on Friday night but they bounced back at home on Saturday against Vancouver.

Special teams was the difference on Friday night (Jan. 27) in their 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Giants.

琉璃神社 came out with a stronger first period, getting a goal from Adam Kydd 7:39 into the game to give them a 1-0 lead. It was his 14th of the season, assisted by Max Graham and Ethan Mittelsteadt.

In the second period, the Giants scored back-to-back powerplay goals by Tyler Thrope and Jaden Lipinski to take a 2-1 lead.

Brendan Pentecost added an insurance goal in the third period to give Vancouver the 3-1 win.

琉璃神社 went 0-5 with the man advantage. The loss extended the team鈥檚 losing streak to three games.

Rockets net-minder Tayln Boyko made 35 saves in the loss.

The two teams met again on Saturday night in 琉璃神社 where the Rockets came out with a much better effort, beating Vancouver 5-1.

It was deadlocked at one after the first and 琉璃神社鈥檚 Marcus Pacheco and Vancouver鈥檚 Dylan Anderson exchanged goals.

Newly-appointed captain Gabriel Szturc gave the Rockets a 2-1 lead in the second period, which ended up being the game-winning goal.

The third period become the Carson Golder show as he scored three goals in a 16-minute span to complete his first WHL hat trick and cap off a four-point night. He now had 19 goals on the season.

Jari Kykkanen made 29 saves for the win on Saturday night.

Over the last two weeks, these two teams have played each other four times and don鈥檛 like each other as they鈥檝e totalled 186 penalty minutes combined.

The Rockets are back in action on Friday night against Vancouver once again. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. at Prospera Place.

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jordy.cunningham@kelownacapnews.com
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