Rocket Recap: Wightman scores first WHL goal, Rockets down Royals 7-2
The Kelowna Rockets took down the Victoria Royals 7-2 on Monday night at Prospera Place in Kelowna, BC.
Both Dylan Wightman and David Kope had three points on the night, Roman Basran posted his first win of the season after stopping 26 of 28 shots.
Wightman, an undrafted Kelowna product, netted both his first and second Western Hockey League goals.
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David Kope (1) scored his first as a Rocket to open the scoring 2:31 into the game. Brayden Tracey (7) tied things up on the powerplay just past the midway point of the period. Trevor Wong (5) stayed hot, restoring the lead just over two minutes later. Mark Liwiski (2) expanded the lead on the power play towards the end of the first 20 minutes.
Dylan Wightman (1) pounced on a rebound to net his first Western Hockey League goal 1:5o into the second. 2005 born Andrew Cristall (2) wired home a one-timer on the power play, his second goal in as many games. Brandon Cutler (4) brought the Royals within three.
Both Wightman (2) and Liwiski (3) found the back of the net for the second time on the night.
A trio of Rockets headline the @barknflyonline stars and stats tonight pic.twitter.com/r6PniOdkao
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) April 20, 2021
The Rockets power play was perfect on the night, going two for two, the penalty kill only gave up one goal on seven chances.
Kelowna outshot the Royals 32-28.
The Rockets record is now 3-1-0-0.
Rilen Kovacevic, Elias Carmichael, Alex Swetlikoff, Ethan Ernst, Jackson DeSouza and Cole Scwebius were the Rockets scratches.
Defenceman William Irvine made his WHL debut, while goaltender Nicholas Cristiano backed up Roman Basran for his first appearance in a Rockets uniform.
Kelowna head to the Sandman Centre to take on the Kamloops Blazers tomorrow night, puck drop is set for 7:00 pm PT.
As the WHL returns to play in the WHL Hub Centers in Kamloops and Kelowna, no spectators will be permitted to enter Sandman Centre or Prospera Place.
WHL fans can look forward to taking in games across the whole league through the newly-launched WHL Live on CHL TV. More are details available by visiting watch.CHL.ca.
