Giants Drop A Hard-Fought Game 2 By a 4-3 Score Saturday in Kamloops
Despite trailing 2-0 in their second-round series against Kamloops, the Vancouver Giants have served notice that they aren’t about to make things easy on the B.C. Division champs. Saturday night in Kamloops the Blazers struck three times in the second period and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Giants. Logan Stankoven (2A) and Fraser Minten (2A) each had two points for Kamloops while the Giants received a two-point effort from Ethan Semeniuk (1G, 1A). Jesper Vikman made 35 saves in the Giants net while Dylan Garand countered with 23 saves for Kamloops. Penalties proved costly in the third period for the Giants who trailed by one goal, but were shorthanded on five separate occasions in the final period.
GIANTS NOW TRAIL THEIR SECOND ROUND SERIES 2-0
1st Period:
KAM – At 11:04 of the first period, Drew Englot put the Blazers up 1-0 when he cashed in on a Reese Belton rebound. Dylan Sydor drew the second assist on Englot’s second goal of the playoffs.
VAN – Just a minute and 45 seconds later at 12:49, Alex Cotton (5) answered for the Giants on a shot through traffic from the point. Ethan Semeniuk drew the lone helper on the equalizer.
VAN – Then with time winding down in the period, Evan Toth gave the Giants a 2-1 lead when he tucked home a Ty Thorpe rebound off a shorthanded rush. Toth’s second of the playoffs gave the G-Men their first lead of the series.
Shots: 10-7 Vancouver
2nd Period:
KAM – 1:21 into the middle frame, Connor Levis (2) tied the score for Kamloops when he pounced on a Fraser Minten rebound and knocked it into an open net. Matthew Seminoff also factored in on the goal.
KAM – Then at 6:41 Caedan Bankier moved Kamloops back on top when he took a feed from Logan Stankoven in the slot, went wide on the Giants defense and slid a low shot home past Jesper Vikman for his third of the playoffs.
KAM – Daylan Kuefler then extended the Blazers lead at 14:21 on a power play. He parked himself in fron of the Giants net and made no mistake off a Logan Stankoven feed from behind the net.
VAN – The game’s final goal came from Giants rookie Ethan Semeniuk (2) at 15:53. Jaden Lipinski started the play from his own blueliner when he raced down the left-wing, cut to the front of the Blazers net, and from there Ethan Semeniuk found the loose change and converted for his second goal of the playoffs.
Shots: 18-8 Kamloops
3rd Period:
No Scoring
Shots: 14-8 Kamloops
GAME SUMMARY
Final Score: Kamloops 4 – Vancouver 3 (Blazers lead the series: 2-0)
Final Shots: Kamloops 39 – Vancouver 26
Jesper Vikman: 35/39 saves for Vancouver
Dylan Garand: 23/26 saves for Kamloops
Vancouver Power Play: 0/5
Kamloops Power Play: 1/9
3 Stars:
- Ethan Brandwood (KAM – +2)
- Logan Stankoven (KAM – 2A)
- Ethan Semeniuk (VAN – 1G, 1A)
Next Game: The Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazres will meet again for Game 3 on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM at the Langley Events Centre.
NOTES:
- With five goals now in the playoffs Alex Cotton leads all WHL defencemen in both goals (5) and points (14).
- Ethan Semeniuk recorded his first career playoff multi-point game with his two-point effort on Saturday.
- For the first time in their first six playoff games this season, the Kamloops Blazers trailed after Evan Toth’s late shorthanded goal in the first period.
- The Vancouver Giants haven’t trailed 2-0 in a playoff series since 2014 when they dropped the first two games of their round series with the Portland Winterhawks.
- The home team has won six of the first seven games of Round 2 in the WHL playoffs. The lone exception was the Portland Winterhawks who captured a 4-2 road victory Saturday in Seattle.
