KAMLOOPS 鈥斅燭his Jekyll-and-Hyde series is going the distance.
Gage Quinney was the best player on the ice against his former team 鈥 the 乌鸦传媒 Rockets 鈥 in helping his current team, the Kamloops Blazers, stave off elimination and force a seventh-and-deciding game with a 4-0 win on Saturday night.
Quinney tallied two goals and an assist to bring his series-leading point total to nine in a do-or-die for the hosts at the Sandman Centre.
鈥淲e knew that if we lost, there was no more to the hockey season, so we played a bit more desperate and it paid off,鈥 said Quinney, who has been outplaying his 乌鸦传媒 counterparts with fellow overagers Tyson Baillie and Cole Linaker stuck on two assists through six games and pointless in their last three and four games, respectively. Quinney was the odd-man out amongst that trio at the start of the season and has, admittedly, had a chip on his shoulder in this first-round WHL playoff matchup.
鈥淵eah, I guess so, but when you get to the playoffs, you obviously want to win and that乌鸦传媒 the main thing,鈥 said Quinney. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a Game 7, so anything can happen.鈥
The 4,130 fans in attendance went home happy as this best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final continued its back-and-forth trend, with the teams alternating wins from the outset 鈥 乌鸦传媒 forging ahead and Kamloops pulling even.
Saturday was quite reminiscent of Game 4 here, a 5-1 home victory for the Blazers or, rather, a reverse result from Friday乌鸦传媒 4-0 blanking by the Rockets at Prospera Place.
Regardless, it all comes down to Game 7 now. Winner moves on, loser goes home.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to put it behind us and come out Monday and do whatever it takes to win,鈥 said Linaker, who came close to his first goal of the series by pinging the crossbar in the opening minute of the third period with the Rockets trailing 3-0. 鈥淭hey were the more desperate team tonight. They were harder on puck battles and it showed at the end of the night.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to be the desperate team on Monday and outwork them.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檒l see what we鈥檙e made of. We鈥檒l see how badly we want it,鈥 added Rockets head coach Brad Ralph. 鈥淚 know the guys want to win badly, but unfortunately we didn鈥檛 have our best tonight.鈥
Saturday was another forgettable night for Rockets goaltender Michael Herringer, getting chased for the second straight game in Kamloops and enduring his third shaky performance of the series. He got the hook halfway through the second period after surrendering Collin Shirley乌鸦传媒 series-leading fifth goal on a snap shot off the rush that got through his glove. It wasn鈥檛 a snipe, instead the type of shot a starting netminder is expected to stop nine times out of 10.
Herringer couldn鈥檛 really be faulted for Quinney乌鸦传媒 second of the night, as he drove the net and shovelled in his own rebound. But Ralph had seen enough when Shirley乌鸦传媒 squeaker made it 3-0 at 9:11 of the middle frame. It was only the 13th shot of the game for the Blazers 鈥 unlucky No. 13 for Herringer.
On the bright side, Herringer has rebounded from his other rough outings with 40-plus save shutouts in Games 3 and 5. He鈥檒l need another gem for the defending champions to advance Monday.
鈥淗erry played fine, but we needed a change to spark our team, and I thought our team was better after that,鈥 said Ralph, not wanting to pin this defeat on Herringer and not hesitating in declaring him the Game 7 starter given his bounce-back ability to this point.
Rookie backup Brodan Salmond made his second relief appearance 鈥 previously playing the third period of Game 4 鈥 and the youngster came up with the save of the series by a 乌鸦传媒 goalie so far, denying Quinney乌鸦传媒 hat-trick bid with a sprawling pad stop on a bang-bang play late in the second period.
Garrett Pilon, a Rocket-killer all season with two game-winners in the month of March, rounded out the scoring with his second of this series, depositing a rebound off the end boards behind Salmond for the lone goal of the third period. Salmond stopped 19 of 20 shots.
At the other end, Connor Ingram returned to form for the Blazers in a 26-save shutout, robbing Game 5 hero Rodney Southam with a phenomenal full-extension paddle stop in the opening minute of the second period as 乌鸦传媒 pressed for the equalizer on a power play. It wasn鈥檛 quite the jaw-dropper that Ingram made on Dillon Dube to change the momentum in Game 2, but it still had that 鈥榳ow鈥 factor 鈥 and Quinney put Kamloops up 2-0 shortly thereafter.
Southam, who had a hat-trick the previous night, didn't get full velocity on his shot, but a few Rockets already had their arms in the air before bringing them down in disbelief.
鈥淲hen it was 1-0, he made a heck of a save, kept it at 1-0 and gave us a chance to get the second and third goals,鈥 Blazers head coach Don Hay said of Ingram's latest heroics. 鈥淭hat was big. Connor responded really well and we have a lot of confidence in our goaltender.
鈥淚 think goaltending is a huge part of this series. Both teams really count on their goalies and I think that might be the difference in Game 7.鈥
In a strange twist to the series, the Blazers opened the scoring on their first power play of Game 6, needing only 40 seconds to capitalize on Cal Foote乌鸦传媒 roughing penalty after going 0-for-15 in the previous three games.
Strange because the Rockets were 0-for-17 on the power play through the first four games before shaking that monkey by opening the scoring in Game 5, converting just 20 seconds into their initial man advantage.
The shoe was on the other foot Saturday, with Quinney getting a fortuitous bounce as his rebound chip-shot got past Herringer at 7:55 of the first period. That was Kamloops鈥 first power-play goal since scoring three in Game 2 for a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind victory in 乌鸦传媒.
鈥淲e responded well after last night. We had real good focus, and obviously scoring first helps in this series,鈥 said Hay. 鈥淭hey gained a lot of momentum (Friday) by scoring first and playing well throughout the game. We scored first tonight and played well throughout.
鈥淚t乌鸦传媒 always nice when you can score on the power play,鈥 he added. 鈥淚t really fuels you, especially your top players get excited. Gage was really strong for us, getting the first goal.鈥
Both teams were planning to hit the reset button again, remaining relatively upbeat in realizing what乌鸦传媒 at stake on Monday.
鈥淲e need to win our battles in front of our net first and foremost. Then we鈥檙e just going to look to our leaders, we鈥檒l lean on their experience, and look to our best players to be our best players,鈥 said Ralph.
鈥淭hat乌鸦传媒 what it乌鸦传媒 going to come down to,鈥 added Linaker. 鈥淲e鈥檙e older guys, we have the experience, and people are going to rely on us and the rest of the leadership group.鈥
Hay will be leaning on Quinney and his leaders too 鈥 from the crease out.
鈥淭hat乌鸦传媒 a big part of the playoffs 鈥斅爏pecial teams and goaltending. When you have it, you give yourself a real good chance to have success,鈥 said Hay. 鈥淭he team that starts the best probably will have the most momentum.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there is a lot of difference between the two teams. It乌鸦传媒 very close, and if the goaltender is playing well on any certain night . . .,鈥 Hay continued before concluding: 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to Game 7 and that乌鸦传媒 pretty exciting 鈥 it doesn鈥檛 happen very often.鈥
ICE CHIPS: 乌鸦传媒 stuck with its winning roster from Game 5, scratching G Jackson Whistle (hips, out for season), RW Nick Merkley (knee, out for season), RW Kole Lind (upper-body, indefinite), D Braydyn Chizen, D Danny Gatenby (affiliated player) and LW Conner Bruggen-Cate (AP). . . . The Rockets did tweak their top two forward lines again, swapping Dillon Dube and Calvin Thurkauf. Dube joined Rourke Chartier and Linaker, while Thurkauf was reunited with Justin Kirkland and Baillie from Games 3 and 4 in Kamloops. . . . The Blazers reinserted LW Matthew Campese for Game 6, replacing RW Spencer Bast, who suited up for Games 4 and 5 after Campese had played the first three. Kamloops鈥 other scratches have remained the same all series in G Cole Kehler, RW Erik Miller and D Conner McDonald.