Hitmen live to see game five

Ryan Huska said it wouldn't be easy to close out the Calgary Hitmen.

The Hitmen proved him right in spades.

Calgary scored five unanswered goals in a 6-2 shellacking of the Rockets, extending the best-of-seven Western Hockey League final to a fifth game Thursday night in Cowtown.

The Rockets still lead the series three games to one, but momentum is definitely on Calgary's side, especially with game five less than 24 hours later.

"Playoffs are all about momentum. Today, we found a way to gain some momentum and for us it's a positive that we get to get right back at it tomorrow (Thursday)," says Hitmen coach, Dave Lowry.

The game came down to the Rocket's inability to score with the man advantage, especially a lengthy five-on-three midway through the middle frame.

Leading 2-1 and holding a wide edge in play, the Rockets were handed a 52 second five-on-three advantage.

Less than a minute after the second penalty expired, Bostjan Golicic tipped home a pretty feed from Brandon Kozun, who had worked the puck behind the net, tying the game at 2-2.

The Hitmen took over from there.

"That was an absolute critical play at a critical time of the game and our guys really did a good job of getting in lanes, making themselves big and blocking shots," added Lowry.

Rockets coach Ryan Huska agreed with Lowry's assessment.

"The turning point was the five-on-three. If you're looking at the game tonight it was our inability to score on that five on-three," says Huska.

"I think when they came back and scored quickly after we missed our opportunity, I think that was the turning point more than anything else."

For the first time in the series, Calgary opened the scoring.

After Colin Long took a lazy hooking penalty in the neutral zone on the first shift, Alex Plante blasted a shot from the left point 1:17 in to give the Hitmen the 1-0 lead.

Mikael Backlund, playing his best game of the series, scored twice early in the middle frame to put the Rockets ahead.

On the first goal, 35 seconds into the period, Backlund picked up a loose puck between two Calgary defencemen and beat Jones for his 12th of the post season.

Ian Duval's perfect pass from the right wall found Backlund alone in front of Jones. Backlund out-waited Jones before sliding the puck into the open corner.

After that, it was all Calgary.

"When it came down to it tonight, we didn't play with enough urgency or desperation needed to win," added Huska.

"The majority of our top end guys weren't at their very best tonight. We need to have a much better effort urgency wise tomorrow night."

The Hitmen, who didn't get many bounces over a majority of the first three games in the series, got all the breaks Wednesday.

The goal which made it 4-2 late in the second period came just seconds after the Hitmen appeared to have too many men on the ice.

Prior to the goal, the Hitmen had been buzzing in the Rockets end for close to a minute. The Rockets had two or three chances to get the puck out of their own end but couldn't.

As Calgary made a line change with the puck in the offensive zone, Kozun jumped on the ice and touched the puck near the Calgary bench as a sixth Hitmen was getting to the bench.

Calgary's top guns also got on track in game four.

Brett Sonne had two goals and two assists while Joel Broda, Michael Stone and Keith Seabrook all chipped in with a pair of assists each.

Sonne and Broda, who accounted for 28 points in the playoffs had been held off the score sheet until Wednesday.

"Obviously when you are put in a position where you have to produce to help your team win and you don't, it's frustrating. At the same time, if we got the win and I didn't get any points, I'd be happy with that," says Sonne.

"We're still down two games and we have a lot of work to do, but it felt good to get some bounces tonight that's for sure."

Wednesday's announced attendance of 6,526 is the largest crowd to ever see a hockey game at Prospera Place, beating the previous record set in the final of the 2004 Memorial Cup.

With game five slated for Thursday, the league has chartered a plane to take both clubs to Calgary. League officials and members of the media will provide a buffer between the two teams.

If a sixth game is needed, the teams will fly back to Kelowna immediately following Thursday's game.

Officially, the Hitmen were 3-5 on the power-play while the Rockets finished the night 0-5.

Jamie Benn sat out his second straight game for the Rockets.

It's not known if he will suit up Thursday.