Giants Bounce Back With A Thrilling 4-3 Overtime Victory in Kamloops

Saturday night at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, the Vancouver Giants (19-24-2-0) erased a two-goal third period deficit en route to a 4-3 overtime victory over the B.C. Division leading Kamloops Blazers (34-13-2-0). A pair of Swedes did the heavy lifting for the G-Men on Saturday as goaltender Jesper Vikman turned aside 49 shots, while Fabian Lysell chimed in with two goals and an assist. His second goal came on an overtime breakaway with 27 seconds remaining. Zack Ostapchuk and Payton Mount also supplied goals for Vancouver while Kamloops got goals from Logan Stankoven, Luke Toporowski and Matthew Seminoff.

 HOW SWEDE IT IS! 

BOX SCORE

 1^st Period:

KAM – 3:04 into the first period, Blazers forward Logan Stankoven intercepted the puck at the Giants blueline, and raced in alone on Jesper Vikman. Vikman made a terrific save off Stankoven’s initial chance, but the Blazers leading scorer tucked home his own rebound for his 29^th of the season.

Shots: 20-3 Kamloops

2^nd Period:

 KAM – Luke Toporowski extended the Kamloops lead to 2-0 off a redirect at the left side of the slot at 3:30. Quinn Schmiemann and Logan Stankoven both assisted on his team-leading 31^st goal of the season.

Shots: 9-4 Kamloops

3^rd Period:

VAN – The Giants comeback bid started at 3:46 when Fabian Lysell notched his first of the night on a low shot from the slot off a setup from Ty Thorpe. Payton Mount also factored in on Lysell’s 16^th goal of the season.

VAN – Zack Ostapchuk then evened the score at 8:12 when he followed up a bouncing Fabian Lysell rebound, and knocked it home for his 12^th of the season, and his second goal in as many games.

VAN – 49 seconds later, Payton Mount gave the G-Men their first lead of the night at 9:01 when he crashed the neat and converted off a Cole Shepard feed from behind the net. Shepard forced the turnover behind the Kamloops net before finding Mount in front.

KAM – The Blazers found an answer at 12:45 on a power play. Matthew Seminoff’s resilience paid off as he was finally able to sneak one past Jesper Vikman, who in the seconds prior made a sequence of big saves. Fraser Minten and Luke Toporowski each earned assists.

Shots: 15-11 Kamloops

Overtime:

VAN – Fabian Lysell helped the Giants complete their come-from-behind victory at 4:33 off a breakaway feed from Evan Toth. Lysell raced in close, and made no mistake as he popped his second of the night past the glove of Dylan Ernst.

Shots: 3-3

GAME SUMMARY

Final Score: Vancouver 4 – Kamloops 3 (OT)

Final Shots: 52-26 Kamloops

Jesper Vikman: 49/52 saves for Vancouver

Dylan Ernst: 22/26 saves for Kamloops

Vancouver Power Play: 0/2

Kamloops Power Play: 1/3

3 Stars:

• Jesper Vikman (VAN – 49 Saves)
• Fabian Lysell (VAN – 2G, 1A)
• Logan Stankoven (KAM – 1G, 1A)

Next Giants Game: A Monday matinee at home at 2:00 PM against the Victoria Royals.

NOTES

• Saturday’s 49 save effort was a season/career high for Jesper Vikman.
• Fabian Lysell has now recorded points in each of his past four games. In that span, he’s now managed four goals and two assists for six points.
• The Giants improved their overtime record this season to 3-2.
• Saturday’s win in Kamloops marked the first time this season that the Giants have won a game when trailing after 40 minutes.
• Payton Mount extended his point streak to four straight games, thanks to his goal and assist on Saturday. In that span he’s posted two goals and four assists for six points.