Rockets unleash the fury

Andrew Cristall sure made his presence felt upon his return from the NHL Washington Capitals camp.

In his first game in his familiar Kelowna Rockets Number 28 sweater, Cristall jump-started the Rockets offence with a five-point night in a 9-4 rout of the visiting Portland Winterhawks.

Linemate Tij Iginla benefitted most from Cristall’s return notching his first hattrick of the season while the third member of that line, newly minted captain Max Graham had a goal and an assist.

“It was obviously a pretty good night back. We got off to a really good start so it was a lot of fun to play tonight,” said Cristall.

“I think we were playing with a lot of confidence. We were getting first to pucks, putting it behind their d-men and playing the right way.”

And the chemistry with Iginla and Graham.

“It was a lot of fun playing with those guys. I think we all bring a different skill set and different things we bring to the line.

“It was a lot of fun tonight and hopefully a lot of good games to come.”

It didn’t take long for the Cristall-Iginla combination to bring the home crowd to their feet.

Five minutes in, Cristall intercepted a clearing pass and spotted Iginla who beat Ondrej Stebetak with a one-timer from the left circle.

They hooked up five minutes later when Iginla converted a give-and-go with Cristall near the front of the net.

Cristall made it 3-0 minutes later when he beat Stebetak five-hole from the right circle.

The Winterhawks got one back near the end of the first before the Rockets broke the game open with six unanswered in the second period.

It was an offensive explosion not seen for some time at Prospera Place.

“Our group was obviously excited to play. We were able to make some plays early,” said head coach Kris Mallette.

“Obviously the addition of Andrew back into the lineup brought a renewed confidence within our group. And, to get off to the start we did, we just rode that momentum.”

And, while it would be easy to pin all the success on Cristall, it was more than that.

“That line obviously contributed…but I thought we were able to wear down, potentially, the opposition to allow other lines to get in and do the same sort of thing and get rewarded for it.”

Lost in all this was Jaxon Kehrig’s first Western Hockey League goal, a top-corner wrist shot from the slot.

“Stancl got the puck past the blue line and I happened to be open. I got the puck and headed down,” he said of the goal.

“I was looking over for Hiroki but ultimately decided I should shoot it and it went in.

“It’s such a big deal. A lot of pressure off my back. It definitely helps my confidence.”

Caden Price also had a big night with a goal and three assists while Stancl and Hiroki Gojsic also scored for the Rockets in the rout.

The Winterhawks made the score look a little more respectable, scoring three meaningless power play goals in a third period that deteriorated into a series of post-whistle shenanigans.

“That’s on us and our players. It starts with a selfish penalty and kind of snowballed from there,” said Mallette.

“Yea, we’re going to protect ourselves but at what cost. I don’t think the decisions we made at that point were very smart.

“The worst part of it was we made it harder on Jake (Pilon) and our penalty kill wasn’t able to get done.”

After opening the season 0-5 the Rockets have now won two in a row.

They’ll look to make it three straight when they host the Prince Albert Raiders in a 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Monday matinee.