One night removed from a 3-1 home victory over Victoria the Langley-based Vancouver Giants followed up with a 6-2 victory Saturday in the provincial capital against those same Royals.
And, with that victory, the G-Men improved their record to 17-13-2-2.
They’re five-game winning streak marks the first time the Giants have won five in a row since a stretch in 2014-15 when the Giants won seven straight games.
Moreover, the win coupled with a Kamloops loss, moves the Giants five points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers for third in the B.C. division, and also within five points of both Victoria and Kelowna for first in the B.C. division standings, explained head coach Jason McKee.
Dylan Plouffe, Ty Ronning and Brayden Watts each scored twice for the Giants, while rookie goaltender Todd Scott turned aside 25 of the 27 shots fired his way to earn the win in goal.
Vancouver outshot the Royals 44-27 and now have not only won five straight games but seven of their last eight overall.
BOX SCORE:
Vancouver stormed out the gates in the first period peppering the Victoria net with 19 shots while only surrendering six against.
Royals netminder Griffen Outhouse was “superb” in the first stopping all of Vancouver’s attempts, many of which were solid ‘Grade A’ chances, said Giants play-by-play broadcaster Dan O’Connor.
At 11:45 of the first, the Royals rewarded their goalie with some offence when Matthew Phillips spun off a check in front of the Giants net and whacked home his own rebound for his 24th of the season.
Early in the second period, the Royals thought they’d made it a 2-0 game when rookie Tarun Fizer thought he’d beaten Todd Scott on a wrap-around try. The officials originally ruled it a goal. But after review, they reversed their decision and the game remained 1-0 Victoria.
Scott was “impressive” in the middle frame for Vancouver, keeping his team within a goal, O’Connor elaborated.
His best sequence of saves came off defenceman Ralph Jarratt, who had two point-blank chances from in close that Scott denied.
With time winding down in the second, the Giants finally solved Outhouse when Brayden Watts raced down the left wing, took a James Malm pass and roofed a shot past the glove of Outhouse and under the cross bar for his ninth goal of the campaign.
Then with 18 seconds left in the period, Matt Barberis’ point shot deflected off Ronning and past Outhouse to give the Giants a 2-1 advantage.
That goal marked the first of two on the night for Ronning, who arrived at the 30-goal mark for the second time in his WHL career. Shots were 27-20 for the Giants through two periods and they led 2-1.
A minute and nine seconds into the final period, the Royals tied it when Eric Florchuk converted off a pass from Phillips from the high slot. Florchuk’s seventh was placed perfectly over the left shoulder of Scott.
“The tie would last a grand total of 13 seconds,” O’Connor said.
At 1:24 of the third period, Plouffe scored the game winning goal off a blast from the top of the left circle. Plouffe’s fifth of the season sets a new season high for him with goals.
“He wasn’t finished,” O’Connor added. At 7:22 Plouffe struck again on the Giants first power-play attempt of the game.
His second of the night came off a clever low shot from the right circle that snuck its way through traffic and past the right pad of Outhouse. The Giants power play finished one-for-three on the night while the penalty kill went a perfect two-for-two.
With time winding down in the third, Scott “stayed sharp for Vancouver making some important saves when called upon,” O’Connor said. “And in the final minute of the game his teammates would add two more insurance markers.”
Ronning buried his second of the night and 31st of the season into an empty net off a breakaway at 19:01, and then for “good measure” Watts wired home his second of the game and 10th of the season off a Dawson Holt pass with 11 seconds to play.
Up next: Teddy Bear Toss, Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. back home at the Langley Events centre. They do battle again with the Prince George Cougars.
READ: Giants invite fans to toss teddy bears at Langley game
