T-birds can't put away Rockets

KELOWNA, B.C. — Lucas Bloodoff tapped in a rebound of his own shot with 10:59 left in overtime, and the Kelowna Rockets forced a tie in their Western Hockey League first-round playoff series against the Seattle Thunderbirds with a 4-3 win Saturday night at Prospera Place.

The series is tied at 3 games apiece, with Game 7 set for Tuesday at KeyArena at 7:05 p.m.

The T-birds scored late in regulation time to tie the score, but couldn't put in a winner in overtime.

"We just weren't as good as we needed to be in order to close a team out," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. "The overtime winner was a little fortunate, I suppose, but that's the way it goes."

"We just tried to keep an even keel and play until the final buzzer," Bloodoff said after scoring his second goal of the series. "I couldn't believe it went in. That's the biggest goal of my life. In overtime, you just try to funnel everything toward the net, and it's greasy ones like that are the winners. The only thing that matters is that we're going back to Seattle for Game 7."

Bloodoff's goal came after he was tied up with Thomas Hickey and slid a backhanded shot past T-birds goaltender Riku Helenius.

Five of the seven goals in the game were scored on the power play as special teams continue to dominate the series, with 20 of the 39 goals scored in such situations. In the series, Seattle has outscored the Rockets 21-18.

Greg Scott scored for Seattle with only 27 seconds left in the third period to pull the T-birds into a 3-3 tie and force the extra period. Sena Acolatse and Ian McKenzie also tallied goals for the Thunderbirds.

Seattle led 1-0 at the end of the first period despite being pressured by Kelowna throughout. The Seattle power play, dormant at 14 percent during the regular season, clicked when Acolatse wired in a wrist shot from just inside the blue line at 10:52 of the period.

It was the ninth power-play goal of the series for Seattle on 27 chances, a rate of 33 percent that leads the WHL.

Kelowna outshot Seattle 13-5 in the period.

Kelowna's Luke Schenn scored 11 seconds into the second period when he lifted in a power-play goal after a collision in front of the Seattle net.

Another power-play goal, by Brady Leavold at 7:26 of the period, made it 2-1 Rockets. Then McKenzie backhanded a shot through goaltender Kristofer Westblom with only 3.9 seconds left to tie the score at 2.

ROCKETS 4, THUNDERBIRDS 3 (OT)

Seattle	1 1 1 0 -- 3
Kelowna	0 2 1 1 -- 4

First -- 1, Seattle, Acolatse 1 (Rai, O'Brien) 10:52 (pp). Second -- 2, Kelowna, Schenn (Long, Benn) :11 (pp), 3. Kelowna, Leavold 5 (Long, Schenn) 7:26 (pp), 4, Seattle, McKenzie (Hickey) 19:56. Third -- 5. Kelowna, Barrie 1 (Schenn, Benn) 6:08 (pp), 6, Seattle, Scott 3 (McKenzie, Richard) 19:33 (pp). Overtime -- 7. L. Bloodoff (McRae, Myers) 10:59. Shots on goal by -- Seattle 5-10-4-3 -- 22, Kelowna 13-6-8-5 -- 32. Goal (shots, saves) -- Seattle: Helenius (2-3, 32-28); Kelowna: Westblom (3-3, 22-19). Power plays (goals-chances) -- Seattle 2-4; Kelowna 3-5. A -- 5,217.

Playoff series
Best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series between Seattle and Kelowna; series is tied 3-3
#	Result
1	Kelowna 3, at Seattle 2
2	Kelowna 3, at Seattle 1
3	Seattle 3, at Kelowna 2
4	Seattle 6, at Kelowna 4
5	At Seattle 6, Kelowna 2
6	At Kelowna 4, Seattle 3 (OT)
#	Where	When
7	Seattle	Tuesday, 7:05 p.m.