Vancouver Giants stormed out of the gate, striking three times in the first six and a half minutes.
It was the start of the end. The Giants went on to score a total of 10 goals in a decisive 10-1 win over the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
But that sense of victory for the G-Men was short lived. The next night, while in Wenatchee, Wash., they were defeated in overtime by The Wild, by a score of 3-2.
In Saturday's home game, Vancouver was led by Connor Levis, who registered his second career hat-trick and added an assist, plus Jakob Oreskovic and Tyson Zimmer, who each had three-point nights – Oreskovic with the first multi-goal game of his career and an assist, and Zimmer with a goal and two helpers. Caden Cail also netted his first career Western Hockey League goal.
Rounding out the scoring for the G-Men was London Hoilett, Mazden Leslie, and Tyler Thorpe. Cameron Schmidt chipped in with three assists, while Ryan Lin had two assists. Meanwhile, Matthew Hutchison made 30 saves to improve to 5-2 on the season.
The G-Men opened the scoring on a power play at the 4:32 mark of the first off a one-timer from the left circle from Zimmer, his third tally of the season.
Just 34 seconds later, the Raiders turned the puck over in their own zone and the Giants made them pay when Oreskovic left the puck for Hoilett, who quickly released a shot that beat goaltender Max Hildebrand on the blocker side.
Less than two minutes later, Schmidt and Levis connected for a goal, where they exchanged a couple of passes while flying through the neutral zone, before Schmidt sent a pass from the bottom of the right circle to Levis in the slot, who one-timed it home.
Schmidt would connect with Levis yet again just over five minutes into the second period on a power play to extend Vancouver's lead to 4-0.
While the Raiders got on the board courtesy of Brayden Dube 8:15 into the second period, the Giants responded with three more second period goals.
The first response came off the stick of the captain, when Leslie fired home a shot off a pass from Tyler Thorpe on yet another power play.
Forty-eight seconds later, Oreskovic beat Hildebrand cleanly from the left circle with a shot to the top shelf to make it 6-1 for the Giants.
Before the period was done, Cail buried his first WHL goal after Lin held the puck in at the offensive blue line and saw Cail alone in the right circle. The Kamloops product made sure to fire it as quickly as he could, beating goaltender Cooper Anderson, who had come in relief.
Oreskovic scored his second of the night less than a minute into the third period, followed by Thorpe's shorthanded tally just past the five-minute mark.
Levis capped off the night by completing his hat-trick on an odd-man rush coming down the right side.
Dube scored the lone goal for Prince Albert.
The last time the Giants scored 10 or more goals in a regular season game was nearly five years ago, on February 4, 2020 when they beat Tri-City 12-4.
This latest win improves the Giants record to 6-4-0-0, while the Raiders fall to 2-7-2.
LOST IN OVERTIME SUNDAY
Vancouver Giants salvaged a point on Sunday afternoon on the road in Wenatchee, falling 3-2 in overtime in a game where they only managed 24 shots on goal.
Again, Vancouver got off to a strong start with an early goal. They put themselves on the board just 1:32 into the game when forward Cameron Schmidt picked the puck up at the defensive blue line and rocketed up the ice, beating defenceman Brandon Pankey to the net and finishing on the breakaway with a quick shot to the glove side. That increased his season-long point streak to 11 games with Schmidt's league-leading 12th goal.
The Wild tied it at the 13:21 mark of the first when Dawson Seitz was tripped up on an odd-man rush and was able to get the puck across the slot to Hayden Moore, who one-timed it past Burke Hood for his third of the season.
After one period, the Giants were all square with Wenatchee 1-1, but trailed 12-5 in shots on goal.
Vancouver had a stronger second period, but neither side could find the back of the net, leading to a 1-1 deadlock entering the third period.
The G-Men were unable to capitalize on two third-period power plays, and making matters worse, Evan Friesen scored a shorthanded goal at the 9:05 mark to give the Wild their first lead of the game.
Vancouver responded late in regulation time, with just over five minutes left in the game, when returning Jaden Lipinski carried the puck into the attacking zone, delayed a bit and then found Adam Titlbach alone in front, who roofed it on the backhand to tie the game 2-2 on his fourth of the year.
Adam Titlbachhad scored the game-tying goal for Vancouver late in regulation.
In overtime, the Wild won the opening faceoff and never gave up possession, eventually ending it when Luka Shcherbyna connected with Dawson Seitz on a breakaway pass, who went in and fired it home to break Wenatchee's three-game losing streak.
Burke Hood was the far busier goaltender on Sunday, finishing with 32 saves on 35 shots, acknowledged Giants associate coach Adam Maglio.
"We didn't like our start tonight," he said.
"I thought we were flat; a little disconnected. I thought we got it going a little bit, but we were sloppy. It was a little bit of a sloppy game for us. We weren't executing. We weren't crisp tonight, but finding that goal late, taking it to OT, it gave us a chance to win and unfortunately we couldn't get it done."
The overtime loss drops the Giants record to 6-4-1-0, while the Wild improve to 4-5-2.
"We would have liked to see a better performance tonight," Maglio said. "I didn't think we had everyone going."
LIPINSKI RETURNS TO GIANTS
In the meantime, the Calgary Wranglers of the American Hockey League announced that forward Lipinski has been assigned to the Vancouver Giants. In fact, he was back on the ice with the Giants on Sunday, recording his first assist of the season.
Lipinski, 20, was selected by the Calgary Flames in the fourth round of the 2023 NHL entry draft, 112th overall.
Last year, the 6-foot-4, 210 lb. forward co-led the Giants in scoring with 66 points (24G-42A). In 201 career games, he has recorded 51 goals and 83 assists for 134 points.
Last month, Lipinski participated in the Young Stars Classic for the Flames in Penticton, before attending Flames training camp.
He was assigned to the Wranglers on Sept. 28 and played in their first two regular season games – both against the Abbotsford Canucks – on Oct. 11 and 13.
The Giants now have four 20-year-olds on their roster: Lipinski, Kyren Gronick, Connor Levis, and Tyson Zimmer.
As per WHL rules, the Giants have 14 days to determine the three 20-year-olds that will be kept moving forward.
NEXT UP…
Our first Theme Night of the season is on the horizon!
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) October 21, 2024
Dress up and join us at the @LangleyEvents Centre on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 4 PM for the annual Trick or Suite Night!
🎟️ https://t.co/P6m1wmC8YY pic.twitter.com/6cuP7U3uyW
The Giants have another game south of the 49th Parallel this week.
On Friday night, Oct. 25, they take on the Spokane Chiefs at the Veterans Memorial Arena.
Then the next two games are back home at Langley Events Centre (LEC). The first is Sunday, Oct. 27, when they faceoff against the Kamloops Blazers. The puck drops at 4 p.m.
Following that, The G-Men host Saskatchewan on Friday, Nov. 1. In the evening game, they'll endeavour to out-skate and out-perform the Saskatoon Blades. That game starts at 7 p.m.
