For a second consecutive night, against the very same opponent, the Vancouver Giants made an unlikely comeback.
Giants rallied from a 5-1 deficit, and later a 6-3 deficit, to tie the game, force overtime, and then win the game 7-6 over the Victoria Royals with 11.7 seconds left in the extra frame at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena.
Giants forward Tyson Zimmer had the overtime winner, just one night after scoring the game-winning-goal on home ice.
Vancouver got a hat-trick from Connor Levis, plus goals from Tyler Thorpe, Mazden Leslie, Adam Titlbach and Zimmer .
Victoria got two goals each from Justin Kipkie and Tyson Laventure, plus a goal each from Reggie Newman and Caper Evansen Haugen.
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Victoria scored 33 seconds in, but just 14 seconds later, Schmidt fed a pass from the corner out front to Levis, who redirected it to tie the game 1-1.
Kipkie would score his second of the period on the power play at the 7:47 mark of the first to give the Royals a 2-1 lead.
In the second, Victoria struck three times in a span of 4:14.
Then, Vancouver responded with a pair of goals.
Levis potted his second of the game and just 1:17 later, Thorpe cut the Royals’ lead to just two.
With 3:58 left in the period, Victoria got one back to restore their three-goal advantage.
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Early in the third, Leslie let a wrist shot go from the point that snuck through to make it 6-4.
Less than two minutes later, London Hoilett sprung Titlbach for a partial break, where the Czech forward decided to try to find Hoilett with a return pass, as he was heading to the net. The puck deflected off Royals defenceman Kipkie and into his own net, just as he took the net off its moorings. The referee initially waved off the goal, but after a lengthy discussion with the off-ice officials, it was ruled legal, making the score 6-5.
Giants found the equalizer on the power play at the 10:25 mark of the third, after Zimmer found Levis all alone on the back door, who completed his hat-trick to tie the game 6-6.
Vancouver was called for tripping in the dying seconds of regulation, but killed off the penalty to begin overtime.
Then, Leslie led the rush up ice on the right wing, put on the brakes and passed across to Zimmer, who quickly fired a snap shot in to complete the comeback with just 11.7 seconds left in the overtime.
Vancouver’s Connor Levis and Adam Titlbach were first and second stars of the game.
Next, Giants wrap up the three-in-three Sunday against the Royals at 3:05 p.m.
Vancouver’s next home games are Friday, Feb. 2 against Prince George and Saturday, Feb. 3 against Everett, both at 7 p.m.
