Any number of pop culture references to one of the most vivid colours of the palate were readily available Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

With apologies to the late John Hughes, the Victoria Royals were Pretty in Pink. With a nod to Bruce Springsteen, they drove like a Pink Cadillac past the Vancouver Giants. And unlike what the person actually named Pink sang, the Memorial Centre was a funhouse on this night and hardly full of evil clowns.

A capacity crowd of 7,006 watched on Pink in the Rink Night, a breast cancer research fundraiser, as the Royals defeated the Giants
4-1 in the WHL.

With the result, the Royals established a franchise record for consecutive victories at seven, breaking the previous standard of six from when the team was located in Chilliwack and known as the Bruins.

The Royals (27-17-3) can extend the record when they host Prince Albert on Tuesday. The WHL last-place Giants (12-38) continued spiraling downward and lost for the sixth straight game.

Victoria’s always-churning forward Brandon Magee, with six goals in two games and 25 on the season, scored twice Saturday with pink tape on his stick.

“It seems to be working,” he quipped.

“Maybe I’ll keep it on for the next game.”

One of Magee’s goals was on the power play, which was again key for Victoria in going 2-5.

“We played hard and got pucks deep,” said Magee.

Brandon Fushimi, on the power play with his third goal in two games, and veteran Jamie Crooks scored the other Victoria goals.

“I’m playing with confidence,” said Fushimi, the rookie find out of Colorado.

Royals head coach Dave Lowry had done an admirable job preparing a team that has been laced with injuries throughout the winning streak.

“I’m proud of the guys. We’ve had large contributions from everybody,” he said.

“This is a great building to play in. Our guys feed off that.”

Vancouver’s Cain Franson, from an unlikely angle with his 20th goal of the season, ended Patrik Polivka’s shutout bid at 8:02 of the third period. Polivka finished with 17 saves. Former Royals goalie Jared Rathjen made 23 for Vancouver.

ICE CHIPS: Royals’ captain and blueliner Tyler Stahl, who received a game misconduct for checking to the head in Victoria’s 6-4 victory Friday, may face disciplinary action by the league and did not play Saturday . . . Victoria remains thin on the front end with forwards Ben Walker, Logan Nelson, Luke Harrison and Trent Lofthouse again scratched . . . There is an ECHL divisional championship banner hanging from the rafters of the Memorial Centre but the Salmon Kings never won a Kelly Cup. The Giants head coach Don Hay, however, can flash a Kelly Cup ring as assistant coach of the 2003-04 Idaho Steelheads, a moment made more special because it was won with his son and then-Idaho defenceman Darrell Hay.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com

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