Giants Fall 6-2 In Saturday Rematch With Seattle
Saturday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA the Vancouver Giants (23-32-4-0) dropped a 6-2 decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds (38-17-4-2. Lukas Svejkovsky (3G, 2A) had a five-point game for Seattle who struck three times in the second and three more times in the third to erase a 2-0 first period deficit. The Giants got first period goals from Tom Cadieux and Ty Thorpe. Connor Martin and Will Gurski combined for 41 saves for the Giants who were missing 775 games worth of WHL experience from their lineup due to injury and suspension.
GIANTS NOW 0-3 AGAINST SEATTLE
1st Period:
VAN – Tom Cadieux put the Giants ahead 1-0 at the 12:53 mark off a shot from the right-wing point that snuck through traffic and in. Cadiuex’s fourth of the season was set up by both Kyle Bochek and Kaden Kohle.
VAN – With 30 seconds remaining in the period, Ty Thorpe extended the Giants lead to 2-0. Seconds earlier, Giants goaltender Connor Martin made a terrific safe at his end, and once the Giants broke out of their own zone, Jacob Boucher fed Ty Thorpe who raced into the Seattle slot and wired home his 15th of the season.
Shots: 13-9 Vancouver
2nd Period:
SEA – Lukas Svejkovsky kick-started the Seattle comeback 54 seconds into the second period off the rush from the right-wing. Svejkovsky’s 28th was set up by Kevin Korchinski and Scott Ratzlaff.
SEA – At 8:10 the Thunderbirds tied the game when defenceman Samuel Knazko roofed a shot over Connor Martin’s left shoulder from the high slot. Lukas Svejkovsky and Sam Popowich both factored in on the equalizer.
SEA – 56 seconds later rookie Coster Dunn put Seattle ahead with his first career WHL goal off a point-blank shot. Henrik Rybinski and Tyrel Bauer both assisted.
Shots; 18-11 Seattle
3rd Period:
SEA – Lukas Svejkovsky took a penalty shot for Seattle at 1:05 of the third period and extended the lead to 4-2. Jared Davidson was the original forward hauled down on the previous breakaway, but Svejkovsy took the shot and made no mistake for his second of the night.
SEA – Jared Davidson didn’t have to wait long for a goal of his own. He snapped his 31st of the season by Connor Martin at 8:59 off a shot from the right-wing.
SEA – Lukas Svejkovsky completed his hat-trick at 12:40 with the teams skating four-on-four. Seattle’s final goal of the night was set up by Sawyer Mynio and Kevin Korchinski.
*Connor Martin was removed from the Giants goal in favour of Will Gurski.
Shots: 20-9 Seattle
GAME SUMMARY
Final Score: Seattle 6 – Vancouver 2
Final Shots: 47-33 Seattle
Connor Martin: 37/43 saves for Vancouver
Will Gurski: 4/4 saves for Vancouver
Scott Ratzlaff: 31/33 saves for Seattle
Vancouver Power Play: 0/3
Seattle Power Play: 0/4
3 Stars:
- Tyrel Bauer (SEA – 1A, +3)
- Lukas Svejkovsky (SEA – 3G, 2A)
- Coster Dunn (SEA – 1G)
Next Game: The Giants return to home ice for a Sunday showdown with the Prince George Cougars at 4:00 PM.
NOTES
- Despite the loss, the Giants magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 4. Any combination of 4 Vancouver wins or Spokane losses gets the Giants into the playoffs. Spokane plays next on Friday against Kamloops while the Giants are back in action tomorrow against Prince George.
- Giants captain Zack Ostapchuk and leading scorer Fabian Lysell both did not play on Saturday because of injury. They join an injured/suspended list that includes: Alex Cotton, Cole Shepard, Ty Halaburda, Jesper Vikman, Justin Lies (susp.) and Adam Hall (susp.)
- Jacob Boucher (1A) has now recorded four points (1G, 3A) in his first seven games with the Giants since being acquired on January 17th.
