Hurricanes Come From Behind, Down Giants in Overtime
Langley, BC – The Lethbridge Hurricanes played the second of a five-game road trip on Saturday earning a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win over the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre.
It was a tentative opening few minutes between the Hurricanes and Giants. Lethbridge found their legs and opened the scoring at the 5:19 mark as Kooper Gizowski ripped home his 10th goal of the season to extend his goal scoring streak to five-straight games giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead; Landen Ward and Luke Cozens earned the assists on the goal. The lead, however, didn’t last long as just 50-seconds later the Giants equalized on a beautiful cross-seam goal by Cameron Schmidt as he finished a pass from Mazden Leslie to make it a 1-1 tie. Lethbridge had a pair of power play opportunities in the first period but couldn’t solve Matthew Hutchison as the game was tied after twenty minutes of play. The Hurricanes held the edge in shots 13-10 in the first period.
Vancouver pulled ahead in the opening minute of the second period as Schmidt centred a puck from the corner that banked in off Harrison Meneghin’s skate and across the line to put the Giants up 2-1 just 55-seconds into the period; Ty Halaburda earned the only assist on the goal which was Schmidt’s second of the game. Lethbridge pushed back with some good looks in the period but couldn’t solve Hutchison who turned aside all 10 shots the Hurricanes had in the middle frame as the Giants led 2-1 after forty minutes of play. The ‘Canes outshot the Giants 10-6 in the second period.
In the third period, the Hurricanes peppered Giants goaltender Hutchison with 16 shots but he stood tall making a handful of key saves to keep Vancouver ahead by a goal. The Giants added to their lead when Tyler Thorpe stole a puck and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Meneghin to make it 3-1 Vancouver with 8:57 remaining in the game. The Hurricanes stayed patient, however, and were rewarded when Leo Braillard wired home his fifth of the season at the 15:01 mark to extend his point streak to four-straight games pulling the ‘Canes to within a goal. Late in the period, the Hurricanes pulled the goaltender and found an equalizing goal as Gizowski buried his second goal of the night with 1:15 remaining in regulation to make it a 3-3 game; Braillard and Tristen Doyle were credited with the assists on the tying goal which marked the second straight multi-goal effort for Gizowski.
The game went to overtime and in the first minute of the extra session, the Hurricanes found a winner as Noah Chadwick – who played in his 100th WHL game – found a puck in the high slot and skated in and rifled home his sixth goal of the season for the overtime winner just 47-seconds into extra time to give the ‘Canes a 4-3 overtime win; Logan Wormald earned the assist on the game-winning goal.
The Hurricanes outshot the Giants 41-21 in the game. Lethbridge went 0/2 on the power play while Vancouver did not have a man advantage.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #12 Kooper Gizowski (2 goals)
2) Giants – #19 Cameron Schmidt (2 goals)
3) ‘Canes – #8 Noah Chadwick (1 goal)
The victory for the Hurricanes was their third-straight win matching a season-long winning streak while improving their record to 2-0-0-0 through the first two games of the BC Division trip. Lethbridge is now 6-5-0-0 on the road while they improved their overall record to 12-8-2-0 on the season.
The Hurricanes will continue their five-game trip on Tuesday when they visit the Kelowna Rockets at 8:00pm MT before visiting the Kamloops Blazers at 8:00pm on Wednesday. Lethbridge will return to the ENMAX Centre on Wednesday, November 29th when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen at 7:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase by visiting the ENMAX Centre Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.enmaxcentre.ca.
