Kelowna Rockets will be fighting for their playoff lives when they hit the ice at Prospera Place Wednesday

Rockets put on the brink

Photo: Steve Dunsmoor

Kelowna Rockets go down 3-0 in their best-of-seven series with Everett

The Kelowna Rockets did everything right Tuesday – except outscore the Everett Silvertips.

For much of the night, the Rockets were the more hungry team, the more spirited team, the more physical team – they probably deserved a better fate than a 4-1 loss and a 3-0 hole in their best-of-seven Western Conference semi final with the Silvertips.

They would probably win 19 times out of 20 with an effort like this.

The Rockets game out of the gate quick, throwing their weight around, forechecking hard and creating chance after chance.

Andres Miller was called upon to make a spectacular pad save off Carson Wetsch in close then got a blocker on Ryan Oothoudt’s breakaway attempt.

“I really liked our start. When you talk about identity, that’s what our identity looks like. I thought we were physical, getting pucks to the net, hungry around the net,” said head coach Derrick Martin.

“If goals cost a dollar we were bringing 75 cents to the rink with us.

“We’ve got so many guys that are snake-bitten, creating opportunities and creating looks but are just not able to finish.”

And the few mistakes they did make ended up in the back of their net.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times tonight. We make a mistake and it ends up in the back of our net. To their credit they are making fewer mistakes than us.”

Tij Iginla had a great chance to get the Rockets on the board seven minutes into the second, but Miller again made a spectacular save on his tip in.

As happens many times, the Silvertips went back the other way, Julius Miettinen won a battle for a loose puck on the end boards and found Matias Vanhanen in front who beat Harrison Boettiger with a quick wrist shot.

The Silvertips made it 2-0 just 24 seconds later when Brek Liske’s shot from the left wing off the rush eluded Boettiger on the short side.

Miettinen made it 3-0 near the end of the second, scoring on a rebound just as a Rockets penalty had expired.

The Rockets finally got one back on the power play no less when Tomas Poletin banged home a rebound off Hayden Paupanekis’ one-timer.

It was the Rockets first goal in 15 chances with the man advantage in the series. They had two more power play chances midway through the third but were unable to convert.

They finished 1-6 with the man advantage…they’re just 1-17 in the series.

Lukas Kaplan iced the game on a penalty shot with less than four minutes left in regulation time.

The Rockets again outshot the Silvertips 37-26 but, likely missed the net as many times as they hit.

The Rockets now find themselves in must-win territory as they look to extend their season.

They will look to stay alive Wednesday night in Game 4 at Prospera Place.