Discipline an Issue for Giants in Game 4 Loss to Chiefs

Category: ArticleApril 3, 2025

Spokane, WA – The Vancouver Giants lost to the Spokane Chiefs 6-2 in game four on Thursday night after surrendering three power play goals.

The Giants now trail the best-of-seven series 3-1.

Maxim Muranov and Cameron Schmidt had the goals for Vancouver, one in the first and one in the third, but Spokane was in control the whole way, thanks to six consecutive goals in the first 27 minutes of the game.

Andrew Cristall netted his first career playoff hat-trick for the Chiefs, while Chase Harrington scored a pair. Mathis Preston also found the back of the net for Spokane.

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GAME SUMMARY

Muranov opened the scoring for the Giants with a great effort, as he picked the top corner on the short side of goaltender Dawson Cowan while fending off a defender at the same time from the left circle.

What a shot! 🚀

Maxim Muranov starts the scoring in Game 4!@WHLGiants | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/eJ9DTWLSfI

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 4, 2025

Spokane responded quickly, and not just once.

Nineteen seconds later, Cristall equalized from the left circle after getting a pass from Berkly Catton.

Fourteen seconds after that, Harrington scored from a similar spot to make it 2-1.

Late in the first, Catton found Cristall wide open in the right circle on the power play, who made no mistake on the one-timer.

Preston extended Spokane’s lead to 4-1 early in the second with another power play marker, beating Hood from the right circle.

Less than two minutes later, Cristall completed the hat-trick with the Chiefs third power play goal of the game.

Harrington added to the hurt at the 7:15 mark of the second when he made the score 6-1 after putting home a rebound from the side of the net.

Schmidt would score a power play goal for the Giants five minutes into the third period to make the final score 6-2.

Cameron Schmidt cuts the Chiefs lead to 6-2 with a power play goal!@TheWHL | #ThisIsOurTime | #FeedingTheFuture | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/y0uylDQgKV

— X – Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) April 4, 2025

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —7/8/8 = 23 | SPO – 10/15/8 = 33
PP: VAN—1/5 | SPO — 3/8
Face-Offs: VAN — 27 | SPO — 32

3 STARS:

1st: SPO – Andrew Cristall – 3G, 8 SOG, +1
2nd: SPO – Assanali Sarkenov – 1G, 2A, 4 SOG, +2
3rd: SPO – Berkly Catton – 3A, 3 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS – Burke Hood (13 saves / 19 shots). Brady Smith (14 saves / 14 shots in relief)
Spokane: WIN – Dawson Cowan (21 saves / 23 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“I think a lot of momentum shifts. We get the first one and they punch right back with two quick ones. And then discipline became a massive issue for us. One thing is we’re down – we’ve been down in this series before – but it’s how we react to it. I think we just got away from it a little bit. Took some undisciplined penalties in that second. But I did think 5-on-5 for the most part tonight, although there wasn’t a ton of 5-on-5, I thought we were okay. I thought we were in there, we were hanging around and we had some good chances.” – Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall

“You’ve got to eliminate the high sticks, the slashing, hooking, tripping, those ones, and then after the whistle stuff, you’ve got to skate away, right? Any retaliation stuff, you’ve got to just eat it and move on. I think at the end of the day, you still want to play hard. You’ve got to play hard; you’ve got to play within the rules. A little bit of that is, you’re going to finish checks, but you’re going to do it the right way. So making sure they’re not late and high. Making sure they’re clean.” – Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on discipline

UPCOMING

The Giants will play a do-or-die game five on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m.

You can tune in for free on Victory+ starting at 5:55 p.m. or on Sportsnet 650 following the Canucks post-game show around 5:30 p.m.

If they force a game six, it will be played in Langley on Monday, April 7.

See below for the first playoff schedule:

Game	Date	Away	Home	Time
1	Friday, March 28	Spokane	Vancouver	4-1 L
2	Sunday, March 30	Spokane	Vancouver	7-5 L
3	Wednesday, April 2	Vancouver	Spokane	3-2 W
4	Thursday, April 3	Vancouver	Spokane	6-2 L
5*	Saturday, April 5	Vancouver	Spokane	6:05 p.m. PDT
6*	Monday, April 7	Spokane	Vancouver	7:00 p.m. PDT
7*	Wednesday, April 9	Vancouver	Spokane	7:05 p.m. PDT