The Victoria Royals are starting to display some playoff-type tendencies. Anytime a hockey team can say that in March, that has to count as a good thing.
A big part of any post-season equation is goaltending and Coleman Vollrath has given the Royals some encouragement in that department with back-to-back WHL shutouts that have given him a franchise record six on the season.
The latest came in a 28-save, 3-0 win over the Vancouver Giants on Saturday night before 6,591 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as the Royals (38-27-4) recorded their fourth consecutive victory. That followed up Friday’s 2-0 win by Victoria in Vancouver.
Going back to the previous game to that in Kelowna, Vollrath is working on a 129-minute shutout streak. He is tracking Patrik Polivka’s franchise second-best 139 minutes and the record 153 minutes set by Matt Esposito when the franchise was located in Chilliwack and known as the Bruins.
“There are 20 guys in front of me who are playing extremely well,” said Vollrath, deflecting the praise.
“This is a credit to those guys.”
When asked if the Royals have clicked into a playoff mindset, Vollrath answered: “I think so.”
For the second straight night, the Royals turned in a clamp-down performance against the fading Giants (26-40-3), who lost their ninth consecutive game.
The clubs close out their three-games-in-three-days set with a 1 p.m. matinée today on Blanshard. Victoria leads the 10-game season series against Vancouver 5-4.
Victoria got goals Saturday from Jack Walker, Austin Carroll and Brandon Magee, the latter’s 100th of his career in a Royals uniform.
Carroll’s was his 37th, which is tied for the most goals in a season since the franchise moved to Victoria four years ago. Jamie Crooks, who will be playing for the defending-champion University of Alberta Golden Bears in the CIS national championship game against UNB today, also scored 37 for the Royals in 2011-12.
The Royals have clinched a playoff berth and are guaranteed to finish second in the B.C. Division and have home-ice advantage against the third-place team in the division — to be Prince George or Kamloops — in a first-round series beginning March 27-28 at the Memorial Centre.
The Royals will close out the regular season with a home-and-away set next Friday and Saturday against the Everett Silvertips.
