Despite putting up 45 shots, the Kelowna Rockets fell 6-4 to the Portland Winterhawks in a mid-afternoon Black Friday affair.

The hot hand for the Rockets as of late, Kalder Varga opened the scoring with his third goal of the season at the 13:27 of the first period. Kanjyu Gojsic and Owen Folstrom assisted on the goal. 

The lead was short-lived as Winterhawks' Kyle Chyzowski scored his 16th goal of the year just over two minutes to tie the game.

Kyle McDonough then gave Portland the lead when he found the back of the net 5:22 into the second period.

Kelowna stormed back, getting goals from Varga (his second of the game, fourth of the season) and Andrew Cristall, 55 seconds apart as the Rockets reclaimed their lead, 3-2. Varga's second goal was helped out by Kayden Longley and Brett Calhoon. Cristall's goal was his 15th of the season and assisted by Marek Rocak and Caden Price.

Nearly four minutes later, Portland tied the game again when Josh Zakreski scored his 13th of the campaign.

And in the final minute of the frame, Zakreski scored again, followed by Hudson Darby just 31 seconds apart to take a 5-3 lead heading into the third period.

In the third frame, Folstrom found the back of the net for the Rockets early in the frame to make it a one-goal game again, assisted by Michael Cicek. But despite Kelowna's efforts, it remained 5-4 until Zakreski shot the puck into the empty net in the final minute to complete a hat-trick and seal the win for Portland.

Rhett Stoesser made 37 saves in the loss for the Rockets, who remain 10th in the Western Conference with a record of 10-10-2-1. 

Kelowna is back in action on Saturday night, back at Prospera Place as they welcome the Regina Pats to town for the first time since Nov. 29, 2022.