PREVIEW: Vancouver Giants vs. Portland Winterhawks (Game #63)

Category: ArticleApril 8, 2022

Tonight at the Langley Events Centre the Vancouver Giants begin a crucial three-in-three weekend with their final home (regular season) showdown against the Portland Winterhawks. The Western Conference playoff picture remains cloudy towards the bottom as there are four teams (SPO, VAN, VIC, PG) who are all within two points of each other. The odds are still strong that the Giants and Winterhawks “could” meet in Round 1 of the playoffs, so this game absolutely has playoff implications. We’ll break down the standings ramifications for both teams below.

TICKETS – WEBCAST – RADIO STREAM

PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS

OVERVIEW

Record: 43-16-3-2

Road Record: 21-9-0-1

Last Game: A 5-4 home victory against the Seattle Thunderbirds from last Saturday.

Last 10: 7-3-0-0

Record vs. VAN: 0-2-1-0

Goals For/Goals Against: 277 GF/182 GA (+95)

Power Play: 25.1% (5th)

Penalty Kill: 72.7% (4th)

Leading Scorers: Cross Hanas (24-57-81), James Stefan (33-41-74), Clay Hanus (18-51-69)

GAUTHIER THE GREAT

The point could easily be argued that the most ‘impactful’ trade made during the 2021-2022 WHL season was the one that sent 2001-born goaltender Taylor Gauthier (Calgary, AB) to the Portland Winterhawks from the Prince George Cougars. Since joining the Winterhawks, the newly signed Pittsburgh Penguins prospect/former Team Canada World Junior participant has posted a record of 21-4 with four shutouts, a 2.14 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. For the entire season, Gauthier ranks fourth in the WHL with a 2.35 goals-against average, first in the league with a .929 save percentage and he’s tied for third with four shutouts.

WHAT THE STANDINGS SAY

The Portland Winterhawks still have plenty to play for down the stretch of their season. With only four games remaining, the Winterhawks are two victories away from ensuring that they can finish no worse than third in the conference standings. They also enter the weekend just three points shy of Kamloops for second, which doesn’t matter much in Round 1 – But in the event of Round 2 re-seeding, the Portland Winterhawks could swipe home ice advantage away in that potential series if they finished ahead of Kamloops. If the playoffs were to begin today the third placed Portland Winterhawks would play the sixth placed Spokane Chiefs.

WINTERHAWK NOTES

Clay Hanus leads all Portland skaters with four points (all assists) in three games vs. Vancouver.
Hanus enters the weekend ranked second among all WHL defencemen in scoring with 69 points.
30 of Cross Hanas’ 81 points have come via the power play.
The Winterhawks have scored the most goals in the Western Conference (277) and have the third most goals scored in the entire WHL.
In three games against the Giants, James Stefan has recorded three goals.
In his last four games, Gabe Klassen has managed four goals and four assists for eight points.

VANCOUVER GIANTS

OVERVIEW

Record: 23-25-4-0

Home Record: 10-18-3-0

Last Game: A 4-1 loss at home last Sunday against Spokane

Last 10: 3-6-1-0

Goals For/Goals Against: 172 GF/223 (-51)

Power Play: 17.9% (18th)

Penalty Kill: 76.1% (18th)

Leading Scorers: Fabian Lysell (21-33-54), Ty Thorpe (16-28-44), Zack Ostapchuk (19-16-35)

SOUND THE ‘HORN’

As the 2021-2022 regular season starts to wind down, 2001-born defenceman Connor Horning (Kelowna, B.C.) is doing his best to soak in his final regular season WHL games. The over-ager comes into the weekend leading all active Giants with 257 career WHL games (Swift Current/Vancouver). This season, the 6’3″ defender has set a new season-high with nine goals and has 29 points which ranks him second among Giants defencemen. He’s only three points shy of setting a new single-season best. Horning’s 15 power play points rank him second on the team behind only Alex Cotton (16). In three meetings so far this season against Portland, Horning has managed one goal and one assist for two points. He has played in all but four games for the Giants during the 2021-2022 season.

WHAT THE STANDINGS SAY

Heading into action tonight, the Vancouver Giants sit tied for seventh in the Western Conference with 50 points, one shy of Spokane and one ahead of Prince George. With six games remaining in their season the Giants have two games in hand on Victoria and three in hand on Spokane and Prince George. The trouble for the Giants is that of Victoria’s four remaining games, three are against either Spokane (2) or Prince George (1). All six of the remaining games for the Giants are against teams above them in the standings. That said, any combination of three wins for the Giants or three losses for the Cougars will help Vancouver clinch a playoff spot.

GIANT NOTES

Payton Mount is one point shy of 100 for his WHL career.
Jaden Lipinski is the only Giant to have appeared in all 62 games that they’ve played so far this season.
Adam Hall (2G, 3A) and Ty Thorpe (1G, 4A) each lead the Giants with five points each against Portland.
The Giants power play has gone 3/13 against Portland this season.
The Giants have chased Portland’s starting goaltender in two of their previous three meetings.
In just two games against Portland, Alex Cotton has two goals and two assists for four points.