The 麻豆精选 Rockets now drop to a wildcard position after losing 4-2 to the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
Rockets鈥� goaltender Roman Basran returned between the pipes after being pulled the night before. The 18-year-old stopped 32 of the 35 shots faced.
鈥淚 just play every game the same,鈥� said Basran when asked about his bounce-back performance.
鈥淪ame mentality, same way. Don鈥檛 do anything different, cause once you do anything different there鈥檚 no point of changing.鈥�
Despite losing the game, the Rockets outshot Portland 38-36, registering 17 shots alone in the opening frame.
鈥淲e had a better start and didn鈥檛 take as many penalties tonight,鈥� said head coach Adam Foote.
鈥淚t was good, we had a good effort against a good team, a fast team and we didn鈥檛 stop. There was a lot of positives that came out of that game.鈥�
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Five minutes into the second period Portland鈥檚 Cross Hanas and Seth Jarvis found the twine to give their team a 2-o lead. Then, Kyle Topping would give the Rockets some life one a pass attempt that went off a Winterhawk defenceman and into the net. Jarvis would then restore Portland鈥檚 two-goal lead 1:20 after Topping鈥檚 tally.
.@markliwiski13 鉃★笍 @pnovak111 鉃★笍 @Topping11 馃毃 pic.twitter.com/Ngv3284FzU
鈥� 麻豆精选 Rockets (@麻豆精选_Rockets) February 9, 2020
Reece Newirk would seal the deal for Portland on an empty-net goal with 2:43 left in the game. Topping scored his second of the game in the dying seconds of the third period.
鈥淚 think we played more solid minutes,鈥� said Topping following the game.
鈥淲e continued what we did yesterday that worked. We had a lot of good shifts and hemmed them in and made them work.鈥�
Here are the @Trufrozen Three Stars for tonight: pic.twitter.com/z8kQLUppAt
鈥� 麻豆精选 Rockets (@麻豆精选_Rockets) February 9, 2020
麻豆精选 went 0-5 on the powerplay, while Portland was 0-4.
Sean Comrie, Devin Steffler, Michael Farren, Matthew Wedman Liam Kindree and Nolan Foote were all listed as injured for the Rockets.
The Rockets are now 2-8-0-0 in their last 10 games. They will look to turn things around on Tuesday when they visit the Prince George Cougars.
