Seattle scored twice in the third, edging the Kelowna Rockets 3-2

Rockets fall to T-Birds

Photo: Contributed

The Seattle Thunderbirds scored two unanswered goals in the third, erasing a one-goal deficit, beating the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 in Seattle Tuesday night.

It was the Rockets 11th loss in a row and drops them six points back of the T-Birds who hold down the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Trailing 1-0 after a scoreless first, Hayden Paupanekis got the Rockets on the board with the man advantage.

Hiroki Gojsic worked the puck to the corner before finding Paupanekis in the bumper. His one-timer beat Scott Ratzlaff to the far side.

Seven minutes later, Rowen Guest potted his first career goal. His shot from the top of the left circle deflected off a Seattle defenceman’s stick into the top corner.

Matej Pekar tied it five minutes into the third then Nathan Pilling won it with a spectacular effort.

Pilling won a race for the puck in the Rockets zone then, while falling, flipped the puck with one hand on the stick past Rhett Stoesser.

Stoesser stopped 34 shots as the T-Birds outshot Kelowna 37-27 on the night.

The Rockets now return home for back-to-back games with the Blazers, Friday night in Kamloops and Saturday back at Prospera Place.