Bowen Byram came through again in the end to lift his Vancouver Giants to a 3-2 win over the Kamloops Blazers Wednesday evening.
A month that started with three straight losses has ended with a 10-game regulation unbeaten streak for the Vancouver Giants. Wednesday night in Kamloops the Vancouver Giants (32-12-2-1) wrapped up their January schedule with the overtime victory.
Byram scored 33 seconds into overtime, giving the Giants to their 32nd victory of the season and their fourth straight win against the Kamloops Blazers (19-25-3-1).
Davis Koch and Lukas Svejkovsky added third period markers for the G-Men while Trent Miner made 29 saves for the win in goal. Zane Franklin and Orrin Centazzo responded with third period goals for Kamloops who got 18 saves from Dylan Ferguson.
Both teams were kept off the scoreboard in the first and second periods.
Svejkovsky (5) scored with one second remaining on a power play to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Alex Kannok Leipert and Jared Dmytriw assisted on the play.
Suiting up in his 300th career WHL game, Koch made his presence felt when he one-timed home a Jadon Joseph feed for his team-leading 20th of the season, extending the Giants lead to 2-0. Tristen Nielsen also assisted on the goal, extending his point streak to nine straight games. Koch’s goal came at 8:32.
Blazer Zane Franklin got the home side on the board when he raced in alone on Trent Miner and roofed his 24th of the season up and over his left shoulder. Kyrell Sopotyk drew the lone assist. For Franklin it was his 24th of the season.
A minute and 23 seconds later Kamloops’ Orrin Centazzo (12) whacked home a Kobe Mohr rebound on a Blazers power play to tie the score.
Dmytriw earned the lone assist on Byram’s marker that cemented the Giants’ fourth overtime victory of the season. Thirty-three seconds into overtime Number 19 buried his second overtime goal in a span of two weeks.
In net, Giants’ Trent Miner made 29 saves to bring his record to 16-3-1-0. As for the hometown goalie, Dylan Ferguson made 18 saves.
The runners up for the three game stars were both from Kamloops – Zane Franklin and Logan Stankhoven.
No surprise that the game star went to Byram, who finished up an incredible month of January with 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in 13 games. The 2019 NHL Draft prospect has scored goals in three straight games heading into Friday’s tilt with Portland. Byram has managed three goals and five assists for eight points in four games against Kamloops.
The rest of the squad is also helping improve the Giants’ record. Tristen Nielsen extended his point streak to nine games. During that span, Nielsen has notched three goals and nine assists for 12 points.
The Giants have won five straight games on the road dating back to January 6th in Cranbrook. Overall the Giants are 13-7-1-0 away from home. The Giants improved their record to 15-4-2-1 in games decided by a single goal.
Their next chance to show what they can do on the ice comes Friday when they visit the Portland Winterhawks.
