Dillon Dube and Carsen Twarynski scored twice each to pace the Kelowna Rockets to a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in WHL action Tuesday at Prospera Place.
It was the Rockets’ third straight win on their current four-game homestand and pushed them to within four points of first-place Victoria in the B.C. Division.
Dube’s first goal came just 25 seconds into the game when he took a breakaway pass from Twarynski and beat Travis Child for his ninth goal of the season to give the Rockets the lead for good.
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Kyle Topping also scored in the first, while Dube connected for his second of the night in the second period, snapping a wrist shot past Child to make it 3-1 Rockets.
Leading 3-2 after two, Kelowna also started the third period quickly when Dube returned the favour, setting up Twarynski for his first of two goals and 11th of the season at the 18-second mark.
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Rockets head coach Jason Smith said the two early goals were momentum changers for his club.
“Any time you score a goal early in the period, it’s good for momentum and it’s good for the energy on your bench,” said Smith. “The guys have really talked about it, between periods and before the start of the game to make sure we’re coming out jumpin’ and ready to play. It was good to start the game the right way and good to come out at the start of the third and score a goal.”
Twarynski closed out the scoring with his team-leading 12th of the season into an empty net.
James Porter stopped 21 shots in the Rockets’ net to boost his record to 8-2.
Kelowna outshot Edmonton 28-23.
The Rockets (11-6-2-1) will close out their home stand Friday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
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