It was a stunning final 20 minutes and not even head coach Michael Dyck could have predicted the comeback.
Down three goals with a period to play, the Vancouver Giants winning streak appeared in real jeopardy. But a four-goal third period – capped by Justin Sourdif’s breakaway which hit the crossbar and then the back of goaltender Jack McNaughton and over the goal line – saw the Giants extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 6-5 win over the visiting Calgary Hitmen.
The win moves the Giants (30-20-3-2, 65 points) to second place in the Western Hockey League’s B.C. Division. Calgary raced out to a 3-0 lead less than eight minutes in with goals from Kyle Olson and Mark Kastelic and Luke Prokop (the latter two came just a dozen seconds apart). Eric Florchuk and Justin Sourdif responded with goals 44 seconds apart less than two minutes later to get Vancouver right back into the contest.
Prokop scored his second to double the lead and Orca Wiesblatt scored in the final minute of the frame for a 5-2 lead for the visitors, who entered the game on a four-game winning streak.
“We didn’t know if we could come back or not, but we just wanted to get back to playing the right way,” Dyck said. “We talked about breaking things down to five-minute segments and lo and behold, we scored a goal every five minutes.”
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Giants win 10th straight on home ice in Langley
Bowen Byram got one goal back at the 4:47 mark and Tyler Preziuso drew the Giants within one point at 9:13. Sourdif would tie the game at 11:29 and then struck for the winner at the 15:53 mark. He was sprung on the breakaway by Tristen Nielsen as the former Calgary player burned his old squad with three assists.
“Obviously going into the third period down three goals isn’t ideal but I thought we showed a lot of character battling our way out of that one,” Byram said. “We are really competitive, a really confident group so never a doubt in our locker room.”
“To score four goals in a third period against a really good team is pretty hard to do so I am so proud of the group.” “These guys know what it takes. It is just a matter of identifying a few things we needed to do much better,” Dyck said. “It was a lot of momentum swings and we have to keep learning how to handle those situations because we are going to see a lot of them down the stretch here.”
RECAP: Four unanswered goals in the third helped lead the Giants to a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Hitmen. The victory extends the Giants win-streak to 11 straight, matching a franchise (regular season) record.
More 📎: https://t.co/yyA3cuMz9x
📸: Rob Wilton pic.twitter.com/ePijAxxOaX
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 22, 2020
The Giants now have power-play goals in 11 of the past 12 games.
Vancouver’s 11th straight victory ties the franchise regular season record they set back in 2008/09. The team did win a dozen straight games that post-season.
Sourdif has 24 goals in 50 games, bettering the 23 he scored in 64 games as a 16-year-old-rookie.
Byram finished with a goal and two assists and has goals in five straight games. He also has seven goals and 21 points during a 10-game point streak.
READ ALSO: New Alberta forward joins Vancouver Giants’ ranks
While the Hitmen surrendered four third-period goals to lose on Friday, in the team’s previous game, Calgary scored four unanswered in the final period to force overtime and defeated the Kelowna Rockets 6-5.
Two Vancouver Canucks draft picks were in the line-up for the Hitmen with defenceman Jett Woo and forward Carson Focht each finishing with an assist. Calgary played the final 48 minutes with just five defencemen after Jackson van de Leest was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing on Milos Roman. Roman did remain in the game.
Justin Sourdif is ELITE ðŸ‘ðŸ‘👠https://t.co/NaOWzOOffE
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 22, 2020
The Giants are back in action on Saturday night as they travel to Everett to face a Silvertips team (38-12-3-1, 80 points) which has won four straight and nine of their past 10.
Following the Everett game, Vancouver prepares for a three-game showdown with the Victoria Royals with the teams playing Feb. 28 at Langley Events Centre and February 29 and March 1 in Victoria. The teams are tied with 65 points but the Giants have played two less games.
