RECAP: Winterhawks 2 – Giants 0 (January 20th)
It took nine games but the Vancouver Giants suffered their first regulation loss of 2018 Saturday. Portland Winterhawks netminder Shane Farkas turned aside all 31 shots fired his way to secure his first ever WHL shutout in what ended up a 2-0 road victory for the visitors. Rookie forward Ty Kolle broke up the scoreless game for Portland at 13:32 of the final period and fellow rookie Mason Mannek iced the game into the empty-net with 53 seconds to go. Giants netminder David Tendeck was strong in defeat turning aside 25 of the 26 shots he faced for the Giants who earned one of four available points at home this weekend.
When the Giants and Winterhawks last met on December 8th in Portland, the game was scoreless through 40 minutes and that’s exactly what transpired Saturday in Langley. Vancouver outshot Portland 10-9 in each of the first two periods, but Shane Farkas and David Tendeck held their ground by not allowing anything past them.
Some of the best chances for Vancouver came in the early stages of the third period with a delayed penalty on the way to Portland. But true to form, Shane Farkas made point-blank saves off Tyler Popowich and Ty Ronning to keep the game scoreless.
At the other side of the ice, Portland finally solved David Tendeck at 13:22 when Ty Kolle backhanded a Dennis Cholowski rebound home for his fifth goal of the season from the slot area. A shift later, Tendeck kept the G-Men within reach when he made a point-blank save off Joachim Blichfeld.
Despite some late pressure with their net empty, the Giants were unable to solve Farkas. Mason Mannek then removed all hope of a Giants comeback at 19:07 when he stuffed his seventh goal of the season into the empty net from the right-wing boards.
The final shots were 31-26 for Vancouver, but the final score was 2-0 for Portland who secured their first victory in three tries this season against the Giants. Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play as the Giants went zero-for-three and the Winterhawks zero-for-one.
With the loss the Giants record now sits at 25-15-4-3. Their 57 points put them one point shy of Victoria for second in the B.C. Division with a game-in-hand. Portland improved their record to 27-15-1-3.
On their current home stand the Giants are now 1-1-0-1 and they’ll look to climb back into the win column when they host the Spokane Chiefs for the first time in 2017-18 on Wednesday night.
NOTES:
- Saturday’s loss marked just the third time in 47 games that the Giants have been held without a goal in 2017-18.
- Dating back to December 5th when they last hosted Portland, the Giants are 13-2-2-1 in a span of 18 games.
- Despite the loss, David Tendeck is now 2-1 against Portland with a 1.35 goals-against-average and a .963 save percentage in three appearances.