Vancouver Giants played their first home game in 588 days on Friday, Oct. 8, downing Prince George 6-4. (Rob Wilton/Vancouver Giants/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Vancouver Giants captain Justin Sourdif scored one goal and recorded two assists on Friday, Oct. 8, as the team played their first home game in 588 days, downing Prince George 6-4. (Rob Wilton/Vancouver Giants/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Vancouver Giants netminder Jesper Vikman recorded 32 saves as the team played their first home game in 588 days on Friday, Oct. 8, downing Prince George 6-4. (Rob Wilton/Vancouver Giants/Special to Langley Advance Times)

After 588 days away from home ice, the Vancouver Giants made a triumphant return to Langley Events Centre (LEC).

Friday, Oct. 8, Giants were back on LEC ice for the first time since Feb. 28, 2020, downing the Prince George Cougars 6-4.

The game was tied at three mid-way through the second period before Vancouver defenceman Mazden Leslie rushed up the ice and while Prince George goaltender Taylor Gauthier made the initial save, Ethan Semeniuk showed some great hand-eye coordination to bat the puck home. Ty Halaburda had the second assist on the goal.

Ethan Semeniuk with a little hand-eye how-do-ya-do!@WHLGiants | #WHLOpeningWeek pic.twitter.com/252NQkVrm8

— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 9, 2021

The goal gave Vancouver a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes before Adam Hall (who also opened the scoring) and Justin Lies added third-period goals.

Adam Hall led the Vancouver Giants with a pair of goals, as the team played their first home game in 588 days on Friday, Oct. 8, downing Prince George 6-4. (Rob Wilton/Vancouver Giants/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Johnny Hooker did get the Cougars within two goals but his tally came with 40 seconds to play.

“Good third period, good response, good win,” summed up Giants head coach Michael Dyck.

He also called the trio of Halaburda, Semeniuk and Julian Cull the team’s most effective line, especially in the second period when the Cougars seemed to have seized control.

READ ALSO: Giants open regular season with 5-0 win over Victoria

“(They) were consistently our most effective line in the second period. Kept it simple and played fast and put a lot of pressure on Prince George,” Dyck explained.

Giants carried the run of play early in the game, outshooting Cougars 6-1 with Gauthier making three outstanding saves to keep the game scoreless. Vancouver ran into penalty troubles with back-to-back minors and while the Cougars did not cash in, they did have seven of the next eight shots on goal and shortly after the Giants returned to full strength, Prince George stole the puck behind the net and Fischer O’Brien potted home the game’s first goal.

Ethan Semeniuk got his first career WHL goal tonight! pic.twitter.com/qF5ik7dqvS

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) October 9, 2021

The rest of the period was all Vancouver however, as the Giants peppered the Prince George goal with the next seven shots and scored three times in a 5:06 span, with Justin Sourdif setting up Adam Hall to tie the game and then Sourdif pouncing on a loose puck during a power-play scramble.

🎥 HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT 🎥@FlaPanthers prospect Justin Sourdif's sorcery leads to a @WHLGiants goal on Friday night. #WHLOpeningWeek | #WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/mDlo2pVlPn

— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 9, 2021

Ty Thorpe made it 3-1 after he won an offensive zone face-off and re-directed Leslie’s point shot.

READ ALSO: Sourdif named Giants team captain

The second period, we were on our heels a little bit and I didn’t think we had the same forecheck that we had in the first but we got that back in the third,” Dyck said.

“When we kept it simple, we were fine. When we tried to complicate things is where we got hemmed into our own zone.”

Vancouver is now off until Oct. 16 when they welcome the Kamloops Blazers to Langley Events Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm.