Vancouver Giants defeated the Regina Pats 4-2 on Friday night at the Brandt Centre to improve their road record to 3-1 on their East Division trip.
With the win, Vancouver’s overall record improves to 17-22-2-0 and they have hopped the Tri-City Americans for seventh place in the Western Conference standings. Regina falls to 14-20-4-2 this season.
Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio called it “winning hockey.”
“When we score first, generally we’re in more control of the game and certainly our goaltending. [Netminder Brett] Mirwald was outstanding and really gave us a chance because he saw some action in the second period there and held us in it. So it’s been good road hockey.”
The Giants got goals from four different players on Friday: Connor Levis (11th, who scored on his first shift in a Giants uniform), Tyler Thorpe (20th), Tomis Marinkovic (2nd) and London Hoilett (4th). Brett Mirwald stopped 28 of 30 in net for his 14th win of the season.
Regina got a pair of goals from Braxton Whitehead (9th, 10th).
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The Giants got out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Just 1:32 into the game, new acquisition Levis opened the scoring.
Several minutes later, Thorpe caused a turnover in the corner of the offensive zone to make it 2-0 for Vancouver.
Pats pushed back in the second period, out-shooting Vancouver 12-4 and getting within a goal after Whitehead scored right off an offensive zone face-off at the 13:27 mark.
Another new face for the Giants extended their lead 4:49 into the third period, as Marinkovic intercepted a pass to make it 3-1 for the Giants.
Whitehead scored his second of the game off the rush to make it 3-2 at the 10:35 mark of the third, but Vancouver would respond on the power play just a few minutes later.
Hoilett one-timed it home for his fourth of the season to make it 4-2 for Vancouver.
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Marinkovic was named second star.
Giants win Friday followed a Wednesday, Jan. 10 loss, a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon Blades at Sasktel Centre.
The Blades – who entered as the no. 2 ranked team in the CHL Top-10 Rankings – improved to 14-1-1 on home ice this season.
The Giants got goals from Mazden Leslie (9th) and Tyson Zimmer (13th), his first regulation goal in a Giants uniform.
Saskatoon got a hat-trick from Alexander Suzdalev, plus single tallies from Easton Armstrong, Brandon Lisowsky, Brayden Klimpke and Rowan Calvert.
Giants wrap up their five-game road trip through the Prairies Saturday against the Moose Jaw Warriors at 5 p.m.
Their next home game is Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. against the Kelowna Rockets.
