Four consecutive goals in the second period from the Tri-City Americans was the difference in Saturday’s (Nov. 25) 5-2 win over the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre.
With the loss, the Giants’ record falls to 9-14-2-0 this season.
Tri-City struck three times in the first 3:35 of the second period to go ahead 3-0 and then added another goal several minutes later to take a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes, getting goals from Jake Sloan, Deagan McMillan, Drew Freer and Cash Koch.
Vancouver got third period goals from Logen Hammett and Justin Ivanusec, but the Americans also scored in the third thanks to Parker Bell, making it a 5-2 final.
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There were no goals in the opening 20 minutes and few chances for either side, with the shots on goal favouring Vancouver 9-8.
Twenty-one seconds into the second period, Sloan took advantage of a misfired pass in the Giants zone that came right to him, as he quickly snapped a shot from the right circle to the back of the net to open the scoring.
Just 1:17 later, McMillan rifled a shot to the top corner from the high slot to double the visitors’ lead to 2-0.
Less than two minutes later, Freer scored his third of the season to make it 3-0 for Tri-City. After Freer’s goal, Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison was pulled for Brett Mirwald.
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At the 12:46 mark of the period, Dragicevic spotted an approaching Koch with some open ice in the slot and fed him a pass from the right boards, before Koch fired it home for his first goal of the season and second of his WHL career.
The Giants got on the board while shorthanded just past the halfway point of the third period when Hammett took a pass from Jaden Lipinski on a 3-on-1 rush and ripped it past the glove of Kyle Kelsey. Hammett was named third star of the game.
Tri-City responded by scoring on the same power play, when Bell snapped a one-timer home off a pass from Jordan Gavin.
Ivanusec would poke home a rebound with under five minutes remaining to make the score 5-2, after a good hard to play to the middle of the ice from Julian Cull.
Vancouver will play a 3-in-3 next weekend. They host Kelowna on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m., then head to Kennewick for another game against Tri-City on Saturday, before finishing their weekend in Spokane against the Chiefs.
