Kamloops Blazers kept slim playoff hopes alive, beating the Kelowna Rockets 5-2 Friday

Photo: Steve Dunsmoor

The Kamloops Blazers picked up a win they desperately needed to keep their fading playoff hopes alive.

Emmitt Finnie had a goal and two assists leading the Blazers past the Kelowna Rockets 5-2 before 4,239 at Prospera Place Friday night.

The win snaps a three game losing streak and keeps the Blazers six points in back of eighth place Seattle in the Western Conference with just four games left on the schedule.

The T-Bird doubled Tri-City 6-3 Friday.

For the Rockets, it was their eighth straight defeat, leaving them with just a single overtime win in their last 24 games.

They have not won in regulation time since a 5-2 win in Seattle Jan. 18 and have not won on home ice since a 6-3 win over Prince George Jan. 10.

The Rockets may have deserved a better fate Friday night but crucial mistakes at inopportune times proved costly.

Tied at one and on the power play, the Rockets were sloppy in their own end, turning the puck over to Finnie who eventually found Rhett Ravndahl to give the Blazers a lead they would not relinquish.

A pair of giveaways in the final minute led to easy empty net goals that salted the game away.

“There were points in the game I thought we were good and there were points in the game I thought we were a little lacklustre and undisciplined on where we needed to be on the ice,” said interim head coach Derrick Martin.

“It’s a game that sits in the margins again, we seem to live there for 40 minutes every single night.

“The challenge for this group is really, we have four games left, is find a way to start flipping the script on some of these marginal games and learn how to do it for 60 minutes.”

The Rockets got on the board first when Will Sharpe went coast-to-coast, deking a Blazers defender through the legs and beating Dylan Ernst to the glove side on a Kelowna power play.

Early in the second, the Rockets were again unable to clear the zone. Finnie gathered the loose puck and got a shot away from the slot that was deflected to Harrison Brunicke who swept in the tying goal.

Finnie put the Blazers up two at 7:36 with what proved to be the game winner before Hiroki Gojsic trimmed the margin again to one with a backdoor one-timer from the left circle.

It was the last real good chance the Rockets would have.

The two teams meet again Saturday night in Kamloops.

The Rockets then close out the season with games at home against Victoria Wednesday, Kamloops Saturday and in Vancouver a week Sunday.