Vancouver Giants have matched their win total from a season ago, and have done so in 18 fewer games.
Friday night at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, the G-Men earned a 3-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers.
Lukas Svejkovsky (1G, 2A), Tristen Nielsen (2G, 1A), and Jadon Joseph (2A) combined for eight points on the night while goaltender Trent Miner made 26 saves to earn his 19th win of the season.
Connor Zary supplied Kamloops (20-26-4-1) with their lone goal of the night while their goaltender Dylan Ferguson made 31 saves.
The win moved the Giants (36-13-2-1) to within one point of the Everett Silvertips for first place in the Western Conference standings.
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BOX SCORE
1st Period:
At 16:07 of the opening period Vancouver’s Svejkovsky followed up on a Nielsen rebound and jammed it across the goal line to give the Giants a 1-0 advantage.
Kaleb Bulych earned the second assist on Svejkovsky’s marker.
Vancouver lead the first peirod with shots on goal, 9-6.
2nd Period:
At 12:33 into the middle frame, Kamloops’ Conner Zary snuck his 13th of the season through the legs of Miner.
Again, Vancouver lead with shots on goal in the second period, 14-10.
3rd Period:
Right as a power play had expired, G-Men’s Nielsen notched his first of two goals on the night when he skated into the left-wing circle and one-timed home a feed from Jadon Joseph from behind the Kamloops net.
Svejkovsky added the second assist on Nielsen’s first of two on the night.
Then, one minute and 58 seconds later, Nielsen struck again from virtually the exact same spot on the ice off of virtually the exact same pass from Joseph behind the net.
Of course, Svejkovsky earned the second assist on the play.
In the final period of the game, the teams were tied 11-11 for shots on goal.
With another victory on the record books, the Giants are back home in Langley for their next game on Sunday afternoon against the Prince George Cougars. They’ve been up against this time three times in the past few weeks, winning each matchup. They’re hoping to do it again, this time the puck drops at 2 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre.
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BY THE NUMBERS
• Final score: Vancouver 3 – Kamloops 1
• Final shots: 34-27 Vancouver
• Trent Miner: 26/27 saves for Vancouver (19-4-1-0)
• Dylan Ferguson: 31/34 saves for Kamloops (14-19-4-0)
• Vancouver: 1/6 on the power play
• Kamloops: 1/6 on the power play
• 3 Stars: 1) Tristen Nielsen (VAN – 2G, 1A); 2) Dylan Ferguson (KAM – 31 saves), and 3) Trent Miner (VAN – 26 saves)
• With the win the Giants improved their road record to 16-8-1-0. With nine road games still remaining the Giants have already matched their road win total from last season.
• The Giants are now 20-3-1-1 against teams from the B.C. division and are 10-1-1-0 on the road against division competition.
• In four games against Kamloops, Tristen Nielsen has now recorded three goals and five assists for eight points. He’s tied with Bowen Byram for the team lead in scoring against the Blazers.
• The Giants are now 5-0 against Kamloops this season and 2-0 against them on the road.
• Giants captain Jared Dmytriw suited up in his 300th career WHL game on Friday night. He finished the game even on the night with two shots on goal.
