RECAP: Giants Erase 3-0 Deficit, But Fall to Rockets in OT

Category: ArticleMarch 1, 2024

PHOTO BY: ROB WILTON

Langley, B.C. – Caden Price scored the overtime winner for the Kelowna Rockets in a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Giants on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre, in a game that saw the Giants battle back from a 3-0 third period deficit to earn a point.

The Giants’ overall record is now 28-26-4-0 (60 points), while the Rockets improve to 27-28-3-1 (58 points), putting them two points behind Vancouver in the Western Conference Standings. Vancouver is still 11-2-2 in their last 15 games.

Ty Halaburda (18th), Jaden Lipinski (17th) and Cameron Schmidt (23rd) scored for the Giants in the loss, as Vancouver out-shot the visitors 37-28.

Max Graham scored twice for Kelowna, while Tij Iginla had the other goal for the Rockets.

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GAME SUMMARY

Kelowna came out with a lot of energy in this one, out-shooting the Giants 6-2 in the first several minutes.

They used that early momentum to strike first, as Max Graham won the puck in the slot and backhanded it past Brett Mirwald to open the scoring at the 7:13 mark.

Just a couple minutes later, Kelowna struck again, this time on the power play, after Graham swatted in a rebound from out front.

Vancouver finished the period with some good chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net on any of their 12 shots.

The Rockets increased their lead from 2-0 to 3-0 late in the second period on a power play, after Iginla took the loose puck from the top of the right circle right to the high slot and fired one past Mirwald for his 41st goal of the season.

After 40 minutes, Vancouver trailed 3-0.

The Giants came out with renewed energy in the third period.

They got on the board first on a power play at the 10:47 mark of the period, after Halaburda found the rebound at the right circle and beat Kykkanen five-hole.

five-ho https://t.co/iqZEcgLY25 pic.twitter.com/jMx0WBq5pM

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 2, 2024

Then, less than a minute later, Halaburda fed Lipinski in the high slot off the rush, who one-timed it home on the blocker side to make it a one-goal game.

clap bomb https://t.co/RgMD0GB8JA pic.twitter.com/ZUbEIomZVJ

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 2, 2024

The Rockets had to call a timeout to curb the momentum, but it only worked for a few minutes, as the Giants would tie the game with under three minutes left.

On the tying goal, Schmidt carried the puck into the zone on the left wing, dangled around one defender and then fanned on his shot, but was still able to get the puck towards the net. With all sorts of bodies in the crease looking for the puck, Halaburda was able to poke the puck to the opposite side of the net, where Schmidt was undetected and able to fire the puck in to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime.

"ill take that, thank you" – schmidty for sure https://t.co/1yCxbSQ3Hc pic.twitter.com/hUKsSaB0Fv

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 2, 2024

With 1:27 remaining in the extra frame, Price would take a pass from Andrew Cristall and score his 11th of the season from the slot to give the Rockets the extra point.

THEY SAID IT

“We weren’t very good the first two periods. Give all the credit to Kelowna, they came in played a smart game, got the puck in deep, got after us, made us work. We lost so many puck battles the first two periods. For whatever reason, we weren’t ready to start on time. There was nothing really much to say after the second period. The players, they knew what we [needed to do] to get going. We were fortunate enough to get a point, but we certainly deserved to lose tonight. There’s no question about it. That’s a learning lesson here. We talked with our player [and said] going forward, there’s not an easy game. Everybody is fighting just to get points. If we’re not ready to start on time, you’re going to get burned. It doesn’t matter who it is. Kelowna is a good team. They have our number. I thought their best players tonight were better than our best players. We need our big boys, especially in these types of games, when it’s tight checking, to make that difference. We did in the third, we did, but we can’t just play 20 minutes.” – Head Coach Manny Viveiros

CLICK BELOW FOR THE FULL POST-GAME INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH MANNY VIVEIROS AS HEARD ON SPORTSNET 650

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN — 12/9/15/1 = 37 | KEL – 11/7/7/3 = 28
PP: VAN —1/7 | KEL — 2/6
Face-Offs: VAN — 32 | KEL — 25

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Ty Halaburda– 1G, 1A, 6 SOG
2nd: VAN – Jaden Lipinski – 1G, 1A, 6 SOG
3rd: KEL – Max Graham– 2G, 1 SOG, +2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Loss – Brett Mirwald (24 saves / 28 shots)
Kelowna: WIN – Jari Kykkanen (34 saves / 37 shots)

NEXT GAME:

The Giants hit the road tomorrow (Saturday) to battle Kamloops and then finish their 3-in-3 on Sunday with a matinee at the LEC against Seattle at 4 PM. CLICK FOR TICKETS