VANCOUVER 4
VICTORIA 1
David Tendeck was a thorn in the Victoria Royals’ side on Saturday night as the Vancouver Giants netminder turned aside 36 shots to help the hosts post a 4-1 victory before 3,474 fans at the Langley Events Centre.
Tendeck’s biggest save might have come in the second period as he robbed Chaz Reddekopp with a toe stop before also benefiting from his goalpost on the same play.
Yan Khomenko also hit the crossbar in the third and Tendeck also turned away Matthew Phillips on a breakaway.
Victoria remains in first place overall in the Western Hockey League, just a point up on the idle Moose Jaw Warriors, who have three games in hand. The Warriors can overtake the Royals this afternoon at home against Regina.
“He [Tendeck] played really well. We had lots of high-quality chances and he made some huge saves,” said Royals head coach Dan Price.
“But the players agreed, especially early in the game, that we didn’t get in front of him enough.
“Not to take anything away from him, but we allowed him to get feeling good and make those saves.”
The Royals, now 14-6-1-0, also failed to break through on the power play, going 0-for-4 on the night.
The Giants remain below .500 at 7-8-2-2. It was the fifth meeting of the season between the two, with the Royals having won the previous four.
Diminutive forward Ty Ronning, who has stood tall for the Giants offensively, had two goals and an assist. He opened the scoring with his 17th of the season at 13:03 of the first period. It also extended his goalscoring streak to six straight games.
Igor Martynov replied just 2:05 later, however, as the Royals outshot the Giants 14-12 in the opening period.
A pair of power-play opportunities provided Victoria with some scoring chances early in the second, but Tendeck shut the door. James Malm then made good on the Giants’ first shot of the stanza, 8:13 in, just as a Vancouver power play had ended.
Brad Morrison made it 3-1 on a power play early in the third as Griffen Outhouse faced 26 Vancouver shots. Ronning then added an empty-net goal.
Victoria returns home to face the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter/tc_vicsports
