VANCOUVER 6
VICTORIA 2
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home, and the Vancouver Giants look to have it sewn up in terms of an earned perk.
The Giants have almost assured themselves home-ice advantage in their likely first-round WHL playoff match-up against the Victoria Royals.
The 6-2 Giants victory Saturday night before 5,458 fans at the Memorial Centre moved Vancouver (32-21-5) solely into second place in the B.C. Division, two points ahead of Victoria, with the considerable bonus of two games in hand on the Royals.
Victoria (30-23-7) has eight games remaining, against teams with a combined winning percentage of .567, and Vancouver 10 games left, against teams with a winning percentage of just .460.
The Giants had an 11-game winning streak snapped by losing last weekend to Everett but bounced back Friday with a 3-0 victory over Victoria followed by Saturday’s emphatic win against the Royals.
The Royals and Giants close out their three-games-in-three-days set with a 3 p.m. matinée today at the Memorial Centre. Vancouver has won the past five games against Victoria.
Former Royals forward Eric Florchuk scored his 21st goal of the season for Vancouver. The wonderfully mobile blueliner Bowen Byram, taken fourth overall in the first-round of the 2019 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche, had three assists. That extended the world junior gold-medallist’s points streak to 13 games and 26 points.
Victoria captain and Danish international Phillip Schultz scored a short-handed, unassisted breakaway goal in the second period to make it 4-1. The Royals’ other import, Swiss rookie Keanu Derungs, brought the Royals to within two at 16:53 of the second frame.
Just as a sense of optimism was mounting in the stands, a Vancouver goal by Michal Kvasnica seemed to suck all hope out of the building at 3:53 of the third period. The 24th goal of the season by Victoria-raised WHL veteran Tyler Preziuso put it away on the power play.
Victoria starting goaltender Adam Evanoff, coming off a strong showing the night before in the 3-0 loss to the Giants, was chased at 2:25 of the second period after allowing four goals on 11 shots. Replacement goalie Connor Martin, among three affiliated players called up by Victoria for the game, allowed two goals on 14 shots. Avalanche draft-pick Trent Miner made 29 saves for Vancouver.
The Giants led 3-0 after the first period. A number larger than the amount of goals scored by Vancouver in the opening period was the number of Royals players missing from the lineup. That was a kind of perverse 7-3 blowout for the Royals. The seven players out were goaltender Shane Farkas, defencemen Jacob Herauf and Noah Lamb and forwards Kaid Oliver, Graeme Bryks and Ty Yoder to injury and forward Carson Miller to the first game of a two-game suspension.
Teams need fresh legs for a comeback after a bad start such as Victoria had. The Royals were missing more than a few of those Saturday and it doesn’t look as if they will get many back for the conclusion of the three-game set this afternoon.
