Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Giants Ice Kootenay 3-2

Cain Franson had a goal and an assist to lead the Vancouver Giants to a 3-2 win over the Kootenay Ice at the Pacific Coliseum on Wednesday night. Jared Rathjen made 33 saves for Vancouver while the G-Men also got goals from Travis McEvoy and Jackson Houck. With the victory, the Giants are now 6-0-5 in their last 11 games.

The first period ended scoreless and didn't have much flow as there were a lot of whistles in the opening 20 minutes. Carter Popoff had the best chance for Vancouver in the early going when he was stopped from point-blank range by Ice goalie Mackenzie Skapski. Rathjen, who started between the pipes for Vancouver for the second night in a row, made his biggest save of the frame in the final minute as he robbed Levi Cable on a partial break.

Franson put the Giants ahead at 7:27 of the second period when he beat Skapski with a short-side backhander at the left post. With the goal, Franson extended his goal scoring streak to three games. The Ice would equalize later in the stanza when Jon Martin netted his seventh of the season on the power play after Austin Vetterl found him in the slot with a pass from below the goal line. McEvoy gave Vancouver the lead again with 0.1 of a second left on the clock in the middle frame when he hammered a puck across the line from the top of the crease, and after a video review, it was ruled that the puck entered the net before the end of the period.

The Ice came out hard to start the third and had a few early opportunities. Sam Reinhart was sprung in on a shorthanded breakaway but mishandled the puck and fell into the net, knocking it off its moorings, and Jaedon Descheneau was stopped by Rathjen on a point blank chance at the edge of the crease. Kootenay eventually tied the game when Austin Vetterl beat Rathjen on the man advantage, but the Giants responded when Houck tipped a Kulak point shot into the Kootenay net on the power play, and it stood up as the winner as the G-Men closed out the victory.

The Giants will now face the Victoria Royals for three games in a row. The first tilt between the BC Division rivals goes Friday night on the island. Catch the action on TEAM 1410 and teamradio.ca at 7pm.

Game Summary

Highlights

3 Stars:
1. Cain Franson - Vancouver
2. Jared Rathjen - Vancouver
3. Jon Martin - Kootenay

No comments:

Post a Comment