Sunday . . .

And then there were five . . .
The Kelowna Rockets scored a 6-2 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans on Sunday night to win that series in six games. The Rockets now await a winner from the other Western Conference semifinal. That one will end Tuesday when the Spokane Chiefs travel to Vancouver for Game 7 with the Giants. The Giants won 3-2 in double OT on Sunday. . . .
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In Kelowna, F Mikael Backlund had two goals and an assist to lead the Rockets to a 6-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Rockets won the series 4-2 and now wait to see whether they will open the Western Conference final at home (vs. Spokane) or on the road (vs. Vancouver). . . . Kelowna was last in the conference final in 2005. . . . The Rockets lost the first two games to Tri-City but came back to win the last four over the injury-riddled Americans. . . . The Rockets scored five second-period goals. . . . Kelowna had a 34-14 edge in shots. . . . Attendance was 6,136. . . . Kelowna LW Jamie Benn had a goal, meaning he has at least a point in all 10 playoff games this season. . . . The Americans had F Jason Reese (ankle) and F Mitch Fadden (shoulder) back in their lineup but both players obviously were playing hurt. D Jarrett Toll (ribs) and F Spencer Asuchak (knee) were scratched. . . . “We ran into a better hockey team,” Tri-City head coach Don Nachbaur told Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald. “They have some real talent on their team. They are big and strong and they took us apart. We played with a lot of courage. All of our overage players were hurt. We weren’t going to win against a team of that quality with our top D (Toll) and top three forwards hurt.” . . . As for the Tri-City injuries, Fowler wrote: “The Americans injuries were worse than the team let on during the series. Reese had a high ankle sprain, Fadden a separated shoulder, (Taylor) Procyshen a torn MCL, Toll suffered bruised ribs and had a hard time breathing, and Petr Stoklasa had two separated shoulders and had a harness on each one.”
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In Spokane, F Evander Kane scored in the second OT period to give the Vancouver Giants a 3-2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Game 7 will be played in Vancouver on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m. Pacific time. . . . Spokane had won 3-2 in a Friday game that went into a fourth OT period. . . . Kane’s winner came at 5:31 off a 2-on-1 with F James Wright. . . . Wright had his side’s other two goals. . . . F Tyler Johnson and D Stefan Ulmer had Spokane’s goals, the latter forcing OT with 1:24 left in the third period. . . . Attendance at Sunday’s game was 6,711.