Vancouver Giants won their eighth straight Friday night (Feb. 14) on home ice at the Langley Events Centre.
Thanks to their 5-2 win over the Victoria Royals, the team moved within four points of second place in the B.C. Division.
Justin Sourdif led the way with two goals and two assists for the Giants while Bowen Byram and Milos Roman added multi-point games.
David Tendeck stopped 24 of Victoria’s 26 shots to earn his 16th win of the season.
Carson Miller and Gary Haden responded with goals for the Royals who had a four-game winning streak snapped after Friday’s loss.
In the first period, Carson Miller opened the scoring for the Royals off a Brayden Tracey rebound at 1:54 of the first to put Victoria up 1-0.
Tristen Nielsen pulled the Giants back even at 4:01 in the second when he one-timed home a feed from Justin Sourdif on a two-on-one rush.
Justin Sourdif gave the Giants the lead at 12:55 from the side of the Royals goal when he knocked home an Alex Kannok Leipert rebound. Milos Roman added the second assist on the play.
With nine seconds left in the second, Sourdif struck again off the rush. This time the assists came courtesy of Eric Florchuk and Alex Kannok Leipert.
Midway through the third period at 10:39, Gary Haden pulled Victoria back within a goal off a breakaway attempt. Haden’s 22nd of the season came unassisted.
RECAP: The Vancouver Giants go five-for-five on their home stand and have now captured eight straight wins after Friday's 5-2 triumph over Victoria.
MORE 📎: https://t.co/rKsvmt28Ks
📸: Rob Wilton, Stanley Lee, Derek Guscott pic.twitter.com/ZkClygNvmB
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 15, 2020
Less than a minute later at 11:30, Milos Roman deflected home a Bowen Byram point shot past Royals netminder Adam Evanoff to make the score 4-2.
Bowen Byram’s empty net goal at 17:59 helped cement the Giants 27th win of the season. Seth Bafaro and David Tendeck both earned assists.
Giants head coach Michael Dyck “really liked” the second period.
“We started playing fast, playing inside and took over in the faceoff dot and that changed the momentum,” Dyck commented.
Justin Sourdif thought playing in the Top Prospects Game “was a reset” for hime.
“It helped me get re-focused and since then I’ve just tried to just play my game and play hard every night. The bounces have started to go my way” Sourdif observed.
Fresh off a four point night, #2020NHLDraft prospect @SourdifJustin weighs in on the 8th straight win for the Giants! pic.twitter.com/ryIRdcYmTG
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 15, 2020
Final Score: Vancouver 5 – Victoria 2.
READ MORE: Giants make it seven in a row with win in Langley
READ MORE: VIDEO: Vancouver Giants make six in a row
Justin Sourdif’s four-point game helped extend his point streak to eight straight games. In that span he’s scored seven goals along with eight assists for 15 points.
Eric Florchuk’s point streak now sits at nine games after he recorded an assist on Sourdif’s second goal. He now has 15 points (3G, 12A) in that span.
Bowen Byram has notched 15 points over the course of his seven-game point streak. In that span the Colorado Avalanche prospect has four goals and 11 assists.
The Giants are now 4-3 on the season against Victoria after starting the season 1-3 against them.
Friday’s game marked the first time in a span of nine games that the Giants did not score a power play. They only had one chance.
For the fourth time this season the Giants did not have to kill off a single penalty.
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All game stars were Giants: Justin Sourdif (G, 2A), Milos Roman (1G, 1A) and Bowen Byram (1G, 1A)
Next up, a battle with Seattle Saturday night (Feb. 15) on the road at 6:05 p.m.
Photos by Rob Wilton, Stanley Lee and Derek Guscott
