PREVIEW: Giants Begin Home-and-Home with Blazers Tonight at LEC

PHOTO BY: ALLEN DOUGLAS

Langley, B.C. – Tonight the Vancouver Giants (30-29-4-0) continue their hunt for fifth place when they host the Kamloops Blazers (20-37-3-3) at the Langley Events Centre at 7 p.m.

With only five games remaining, Vancouver is currently three points behind Kelowna for fifth place and one point behind Victoria for sixth place, with a game in hand on each.

The Giants are coming off a 5-1 win on Tuesday night at the LEC over the Tri-City Americans, improving to 11-0-1 in their last 12 home games.

The visiting Blazers have lost three straight games, but beat the Giants in their last head-to-head meeting, which was a 3-2 score at the Sandman Centre back on March 2. The last time Vancouver hosted Kamloops was on Feb. 24, when Cameron Schmidt scored his first WHL hat-trick and the Giants stomped the visitors 7-1.

The season series is currently 3-3.

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HOW TO TUNE IN Date | Time  Friday, March 15 | 7:00 pm PT Place Langley Events Centre Video Stream watch.chl.ca Listen Sportsnet 650 | Pre-Game begins at 6:00 p.m. Live Stats Click Here Social Media Twitter | Facebook  | Instagram | TikTok

LAST TIME OUT

The Giants recorded a season-high 47 shots on goal in a 5-1 win over the visiting Tri-City Americans on Tuesday night.

The line of Jaden Lipinski (2G), Ty Halaburda (3A) and Cameron Schmidt (2A) combined for seven points in the victory. Lipinski’s two goals helped him reach the 20-goal plateau on the season, becoming the sixth Giant to record 20 or more goals in 2023-24. Also scoring for Vancouver was Connor Levis (21st), Mazden Leslie (14th) and Adam Titlbach (9th).

Brett Mirwald stopped 24 of 25 shots for his 27th win of the season.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

Tonight is the seventh of eight head-to-head meetings this season, with the final matchup set for tomorrow. Currently, the season series is tied 3-3, with the home team winning all six games.

Vancouver’s wins came on Oct. 29 (4-3), Nov. 4 (3-2 in a SO) and Feb. 24 (7-1). The Blazers wins came on Sept. 29 (5-1), Nov. 24 (6-3) and March 2 (3-2).

The Giants have outscored their opponents 57-28 during their 12-game home point streak (11-0-1).

The Blazers, meanwhile, are 1-4-1 in their last six road games and are tied for the second-fewest road wins this season, with just seven. Their most recent road game was a 9-1 loss to Kelowna on March 8.

The Giants Player to Watch this evening is Adam Titlbach, who scored in Tuesday’s win and now has goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season, after also scoring last Saturday in Prince George. The left-shot import forward now has eight points in his last 11 games (3G-5A), which has provided the Giants with important secondary scoring.

The Player to Watch for the Blazers is forward Jordan Keller, who has 40 points in 41 games since being traded from Saskatoon in late November. Keller, alongside Emmitt Finnie and Ashton Ferster, have combined to provide Kamloops with a strong top line the last couple of months, one that caused the Giants headaches in their loss to Kamloops on March 2. The left-shot forward had a six-game point streak recently, registering six goals and six assists for 12 points in six consecutive games from Feb. 25 to March 8.

TALE OF THE TAPE

VANCOUVER	STAT	KAMLOOPS
30-29-4-0 (64 Pts)	RECORD	20-37-3-3 (46 Pts)
4th	DIV. RANK	5th
7th	CONF. RANK	11th
4-5-1-0	PAST 10	3-6-0-1
1W	STREAK	3L
18-10-3-0	HOME	13-16-3-0
12-19-1-0	AWAY	7-21-0-3
203 (3.22 – 15th)	GF (/G)	172 (2.73 – 22nd)
229 (3.63 – 11th)	GA (/G)	266 (4.22 – 18th)
44-for-216 (20.4%)	PP%	46-for-221 (20.8%)
211-for-269 (78.4%)	PK%	141-for-190 (74.2%)
Halaburda (20-40-60) Lipinski (20-39-59) Schmidt (26-24-50)	LEADERS	Finnie (17-38-55) Keller (20-28-48) Ferster (17-21-38)
107 (20th)	POINTS BY D	104 (21st)

SEASON SERIES VS. KAMLOOPS (3-3-0-0; 4 H2H)