Vancouver Giants picked up a couple of big points on Saturday night, Nov. 4, slipping past the Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a shootout before an home audience of 3,012 at the Langley Events Centre.
Just like on Friday, goaltending was a storyline for the Giants again on Saturday, as Brett Mirwald was the best player on either side, finishing with 41 saves on 43 shots for his fifth win of the season.
Mirwald has recorded 40 or more saves three times this season. 41 saves is the most he’s had in a win in his career.
Scoring for the Giants in regulation was Connor Dale and Jaden Lipinski. Ty Halaburda provided the shootout winner, as he was the only player on both teams to score in the shootout.
Scoring for Kamloops was Shea Van Olm and Fraser Minten.
Blazers were the better team in the opening 20 minutes, out-shooting the Giants 15-6, however, it was Vancouver who came away with a lead, as Connor Dale provided the only goal of the period.
In the second, Kamloops kept up the pressure and tied the game at the 11:30 mark.
In the third period, Giants were rewarded for their efforts at the 7:01 mark, after Dale dropped a pass to Lipinski in front of the net right off an offensive zone face-off. Lipinski tapped it in for his third goal of the last eight games.
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While Vancouver out-shot Kamloops 18-5 in the third period, the Giants were unable to close out the game in regulation. With Ernst pulled for Kamloops and under a minute left, Fraser Minten started a rush on his own and got past two defenders, before scoring to tie the game 2-2.
Neither side scored during the remainder of the extra frame, meaning the game required a shootout.
After Adam Titlbach and Tyler Thorpe missed for Vancouver, Ty Halaburda scored to give them a 1-0 lead with one Kamloops shooter remaining. Halaburda is 2-for-2 in shootouts this season
Mirwald was named first star of the game, while teammate Connor Dale had third.
Giants have two home games next week, starting with a Wednesday date with the Red Deer Rebels at 7 p.m. It’ll be the first visit from Red Deer since 2020.
On Friday, they host the Portland Winterhawks at 7 p.m and on Saturday, they’ll head to Everett to battle the Silvertips for the first time this season.
Vancouver Giants downed Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a shootout at Langley Events Centre on Saturday, Nov. 4, with another outstanding performance by netminder Brett Mirwald. (Rob Wilton/Special to Langley Advance Times)
Vancouver Giants downed Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a shootout at Langley Events Centre on Saturday, Nov. 4, with another outstanding performance by netminder Brett Mirwald. (Wes Shaw, ShotBug Press/Special to Langley Advance Times)
