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With Brodan Salmond out of action, rookie James Porter was thrust into action on Friday night and he didn’t disappoint.
Unfortunately for Porter, the rest of the Kelowna Rockets didn’t bring their A game in a 3-1 loss to the Portland Winterhawks.
The defeat was Kelowna’s fifth straight loss, with three of those coming at the hands of the Winterhawks.
There wasn’t much that stood out in a fairly quiet first period, although Porter had to be the sharper of the two goalies.
He made 13 saves, compared to just four saves from Portland’s Cole Kehler, as the opening frame ended in a scoreless draw.
The second started in a similar fashion, but things quickly got heated when Brendan De Jong delivered a questionable hit on Kelowna’s Jack Cowell.
Gordie Ballhorn jumped right to his teammates defense, dropping the mitts with De Jong and scoring the decision by take down.
The fight seemed to spark the Rockets and the home crowd, but it was the Winterhawks who would strike first just over five minutes after the scrap.
New York Islanders' first round pick Kieffer Bellows would pounce on a loose puck in the slot and tuck it past an outstretched Porter to make it 1-0 for Portland.
That’s all the scoring this game would see through 40 minutes, as the Rockets entered the third down a goal and in need of a win.
Before any goals were scored in the third, the game saw another fight as Erik Gardiner dropped the gloves with Brad Ginnell in a hard fought tilt.
Once again it was Portland who would capitalize on that momentum, however, when Skyler McKenzie scored his 11th of the season a few minutes later to make it 2-0.
As a few Rockets fans started to file out of Prospera Place, Kyle Topping gave the crowd some hope with a goal that cut the lead in half with just over five minutes to play, but that’s as close as the Rockets would come.
Cody Glass, the first ever draft pick by the Vegas Golden Knights, would bury his fifth of the season into an empty net to seal the 3-1 win for the Winterhawks.
Despite the loss, James Porter had a fantastic game in between the pipes, stopping 45 of 47 shots in a losing effort.
He’ll likely get the start on Saturday night as the Rockets host the Winterhawks for a second straight evening, which will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in only eight days.
Saturday night is also Paint the Rink Pink night at Prospera Place, so throw on your favourite pink clothes and accessories and come cheer on the Rockets in support of breast cancer awareness.
The Rockets will enter Saturday's game with a 4-5-1-1 record, while the Winterhawks are humming along at an impressive 9-1-0-0.
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