Vancouver Giants started a three-games-in-three-days series against Victoria Royals by erasing a 3-0 deficit on Friday night, Jan,. 26, at the Langley Events Centre, scoring five consecutive times to come from behind and win 5-3.
Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros described the third frame as “one of the best periods we’ve played all year.”
“The depth that we have in our group right now allows us to get back into that type of game,” Viveiros explained.
“We talked about it on the bench in between periods, that we’re still in this game. The kids believed, if they stick with it, that they’re going to get back in it.”
Giants got a pair of goals from Jaden Lipinski, plus single tallies from Wyatt Wilson, Cameron Schmidt and Tyson Zimmer (14th).
Victoria goals came from Tyson Laventure, Ben Riche and Justin Kipkie.
Royals had the only goal of the opening period, as Laventure redirected one in off his skate on the power play at the 14:37 mark.
Thirty-three seconds into the second period, Victoria doubled their lead after Riche’s shot just squeaked through Mirwald and into the back of the net.
Kipkie extended the visitors’ lead to 3-0 at the 12:37 mark of the middle frame after the defenceman arrived first to a loose puck in the slot and quickly fired it home for his 13th goal of the season.
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Vancouver began their comeback with two key goals before the second period was done. Lipinski made it 3-1 on a 4-on-3 power play after Sam Honzek’s low shot created a perfect rebound off the pad of Braden Holt.
With just 1:04 left in the second, Halaburda gained the zone on the left side off the rush and fanned on the shot, but the puck ended up rolling into the blue paint, where Wilson was right there to deposit the puck into the back of the net for his first goal in a Giants uniform.
The Giants killed off two crucial penalties in the first seven minutes of the third period to keep the score at 3-2.
Then, at the 8:33 mark, Schmidt hopped on a loose puck at the right circle and beat Holt cleanly on the glove side to tie the game 3-3.
With under four minutes to go, new acquisition Zimmer would deliver the go-ahead goal, as he quickly fired a shot from the right circle after receiving a pass from Adam Titlbach on a 3-on-2 rush.
Lipinski would score his second of the night into an empty net to deliver the final blow and make it a 5-3 final score.
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All three stars of the game were Giants: Tyson Zimmer, Jaden Lipinski and Cameron Schmidt.
Next, Giants travel to Victoria for two more against the Royals: Saturday night, Jan. 27, at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m..
