A good first period wasn't enough as the Kelowna Rockets fell to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday night (March 4).

Forward Hayden Paupanekis potted two goals in the first period, sandwiched between a goal by Medicine Hat but those would be the Rockets only two goals on the night. His first goal, 20th of the season was assisted by Jakub Stancl while his second game on the powerplay and was helped by Kayden Longley and Nate Corbet.

In the second period, the Tigers tied the game when Liam Ruck put home his 20th goal of the season, assisted by former Kelowna Rocket Marcus Pacheco. 

The third frame was all Medicine Hat as they ripped 18 shots on net and finally broke through to take their first lead of the game at the 12:40 mark when Ruck scored his second of the contest.

Just under a minute later, Mathew Ward doubled the Tigers lead while Ryder Ritchie added an empty netter late to put the game away.

Rhett Stoesser made 33 saves in the loss for the Rockets, who have now lost 20 of their last 21 games. They are 17-38-4-2 on the season.

The Rockets are back in action on Wednesday night (March 5) as they take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes (38-19-2-2) Puck drop is at 6 p.m. Pacific time at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.