dondo
04-04-2010, 12:41 PM
Gally had a great night, notching 5 points with the natural hat an EN goal and assisting on the opening goal of the game. Bouma, Wright and Cunningham all had three point nights each with a goal and two helpers. A wide open game that the Giants won, but probably not the kind of game they want to play versus the Winterhawks every time out on the ice. The Giants were not intimidated by the Portland team's size or physical play. They used the seams to their advantage and will need to continue to do so as this series moves on. Its also interesting to note that 4 or 5 of the goals tonight came when the teams were playing 4 on 4. I'm looking forward to Sunday.
Giants Pummel Portland
Rnd 2 Game 1: Vancouver 9 Portland 6
Don Robinson
Who would have thought that the Giants could win a pure run and gun game versus the Winterhawks, but last night they did. Despite the win they have to be pretty disappointed in their goalie’s performance though, allowing 6 goals on about 30 shots, but have to be impressed with their ability to bounce back after letting the Portland squad back into the game. The Giants opened the scoring with two quick ones and then allowed a short-handed goal against on their first PP chance on the night. That goal could have crushed another team’s momentum and the rest of the period was played a bit tighter, but the Giants lost no drive in this one. The G-Men bulged their lead early in the second before allowing Winterhawks to come back in the second tying the game up for a brief moment with two bang-bang tallies, but late in the period the Giants pushed that lead back to two. The third was crazy with the Giants re-establishing their three-goal cushion, before allowing two straight against. The Giants once again replied with two of their own as scoring just one didn’t seem to be how it worked tonight. Portland clawed back one before the Giants scored an empty net tally when the Winterhawks pulled their netminder with about 2 mins remaining. The goals were not the only story of the game as the game got rough in the third, with multiple fights as part of a line brawl and some rough stuff as the Portland squad attempted to flex their size, but to no avail as the Giants deadline acquisitions brought their own size to the fore.
Brendan Gallagher had a 5 point night (4G 1A), a natural hat-trick and an empty netter late, was a plus 4 and assisted on the Giants first tally setting up James Henry for the opening goal of the game. The really impressive aspect of these stats to note is that the refs sat Gallagher for a 10 minute misconduct in the second, so the diminutive forward only played a possible 50 minutes of 60 in the game. Craig Cunningham scored a couple minutes later, off of Lance Bouma and Kevin Connauton. Former Giant d-man Stefan Schneider scored a short-handed tally while playing centre for Portland. The two teams played a bit tighter for the remainder of the period, but over-all the game was loose as a greased goosed.
Only one of the goals came on the PP, one short-handed, but several twine-ripplers came 4 on 4, as the zebras assessed frequent coincidental penalties. The Giants took advantage of the big but slower Winterhawks, did not shy away from physical play and took their game right to the Winterhawks whose strength and major threat is more off of the rush than the forecheck. The Giants strength comes more from an aggressive forecheck and puck control in offensive end of the ice. The Winterhawks are always dangerous though and can score in bunches, as was in evidence tonight. The real surprise tonight was that so can the Giants, who have flown below the radar offense-wise this season despite having a player in the scoring title hunt and a different player scoring 40 for only the third time in franchise history. The break the G-Men had between the first and second rounds did not slow them down and allowed them to heal some of their wounded as the flu-bug, minor nagging injuries and other ailments plagued the team the past week and a bit. The time-off did not slow them down or break any momentum they had as they came out ready to compete from the drop of the puck in this one and it’s a good thing that they did.
Brett Breitkreuz padded the Giants lead early in the second with a rocket that Mac Carruth didn’t even see before it was in his net. James Wright and Neil Manning got the assists on the play. Seth Swenson replied with his first of the playoffs and then Ryan Johansen tied the game a couple of minutes later. It took about 10 minutes of back and forth hockey, but Gallagher was intense once he got back on the ice and on a mission to get his team back the lead. At 17:49 of the middle frame he tipped a Neil Manning shot past Carruth. Connauton got the other helper. With time ticking down in the middle frame and 12 secs remaining in their PP, Gallagher again tipped a Manning shot past the Portland netminder. Craig Cunningham got the other assist on the play.
Gallagher completed the natural hat early in the third, getting some help from Bouma and Dillon Scholten who was in the mix tonight. It didn’t take the Winterhawks long to reply though as they notched two more quick ones of their own, slipping the puck past Mark Segal for a couple he should have had a hand on. Getting to within one the Winterhawks watched the Giants vapour trails a few minutes later when the Vancouver squad stepped it up into another gear. Wright who had been around the puck all night finally got one of his own to go, getting some great work from Tomas Vincour. Lance Bouma found the twine a couple of minutes later, off of some great work by Cunningham. The game devolved into a line brawl as Aronson was once again in the middle of the rough stuff, getting a fighting major and game misconduct. Along with Ross who was the instigator jumping onto top of a pile of players to start the free-for-all, Ponich and Neiderreitter. On the Giants side - the whole thing started with a check from behind by Milan Kytnar on Ross, but the Giants were not ready to back down from any kind of game the Winterhawks wanted to play. Henry was in the fray getting a fighting major and a game and David Musil had his nose in there as well. Ross received a game as well, which could make Sunday’s tilt interesting if the league upholds those game misconducts and suspends those three players with a game in the press box.
After the dust had settled the Portland squad seemed to be re-energized bringing more of their game back to fore. The Giants blinked, but did not fold though and despite allowing a tally late in the game, pushed through to get the win. Ty Rattie slipped a puck past Segal, who made some great stops, lost his stick at one point and then seemed more concerned with recovering his stick than stopping the puck. Loss of focus is definitely a weakness for the Giants ‘tender and one he needs to address as it is completely under his control and is the difference between being okay and being elite. The Winterhawks pulled their goalie in the hope of generating more offense, but Gallagher put the exclamation point on the game killing that drive very quickly scoring an empty netter and salting away the victory. The gloves were dropped again at the 20:00 mark of the third as the Winterhawks were sending a message for Sunday.
The Giants out shot the Winterhawks 49-37, but the Winterhawks were able to top the G’s in the third barely out shooting the visitors. The Giants went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Winterhawks were 0 for 4. It was not difficult to find the back of the net in this one and I expect that both teams will be ready to play a bit tighter game on Sunday. The playoff format for this series is 2-3-2 and with the win the Giants gain the advantage in the series. The Portland squad hasn’t had a great home record for the playoffs so far as they have won all of their games on the road and none in their own barn. The two teams tangle again on Sunday mere hours after they ended this one, so the emotions are still going to be fresh and could find the teams show up with axes ready to grind. The puck drops at 5pm on Easter Sunday in Portland for game two and could go a multitude of ways.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Gallagher
2. Ryan Johansen
3. James Wright
Giants Pummel Portland
Rnd 2 Game 1: Vancouver 9 Portland 6
Don Robinson
Who would have thought that the Giants could win a pure run and gun game versus the Winterhawks, but last night they did. Despite the win they have to be pretty disappointed in their goalie’s performance though, allowing 6 goals on about 30 shots, but have to be impressed with their ability to bounce back after letting the Portland squad back into the game. The Giants opened the scoring with two quick ones and then allowed a short-handed goal against on their first PP chance on the night. That goal could have crushed another team’s momentum and the rest of the period was played a bit tighter, but the Giants lost no drive in this one. The G-Men bulged their lead early in the second before allowing Winterhawks to come back in the second tying the game up for a brief moment with two bang-bang tallies, but late in the period the Giants pushed that lead back to two. The third was crazy with the Giants re-establishing their three-goal cushion, before allowing two straight against. The Giants once again replied with two of their own as scoring just one didn’t seem to be how it worked tonight. Portland clawed back one before the Giants scored an empty net tally when the Winterhawks pulled their netminder with about 2 mins remaining. The goals were not the only story of the game as the game got rough in the third, with multiple fights as part of a line brawl and some rough stuff as the Portland squad attempted to flex their size, but to no avail as the Giants deadline acquisitions brought their own size to the fore.
Brendan Gallagher had a 5 point night (4G 1A), a natural hat-trick and an empty netter late, was a plus 4 and assisted on the Giants first tally setting up James Henry for the opening goal of the game. The really impressive aspect of these stats to note is that the refs sat Gallagher for a 10 minute misconduct in the second, so the diminutive forward only played a possible 50 minutes of 60 in the game. Craig Cunningham scored a couple minutes later, off of Lance Bouma and Kevin Connauton. Former Giant d-man Stefan Schneider scored a short-handed tally while playing centre for Portland. The two teams played a bit tighter for the remainder of the period, but over-all the game was loose as a greased goosed.
Only one of the goals came on the PP, one short-handed, but several twine-ripplers came 4 on 4, as the zebras assessed frequent coincidental penalties. The Giants took advantage of the big but slower Winterhawks, did not shy away from physical play and took their game right to the Winterhawks whose strength and major threat is more off of the rush than the forecheck. The Giants strength comes more from an aggressive forecheck and puck control in offensive end of the ice. The Winterhawks are always dangerous though and can score in bunches, as was in evidence tonight. The real surprise tonight was that so can the Giants, who have flown below the radar offense-wise this season despite having a player in the scoring title hunt and a different player scoring 40 for only the third time in franchise history. The break the G-Men had between the first and second rounds did not slow them down and allowed them to heal some of their wounded as the flu-bug, minor nagging injuries and other ailments plagued the team the past week and a bit. The time-off did not slow them down or break any momentum they had as they came out ready to compete from the drop of the puck in this one and it’s a good thing that they did.
Brett Breitkreuz padded the Giants lead early in the second with a rocket that Mac Carruth didn’t even see before it was in his net. James Wright and Neil Manning got the assists on the play. Seth Swenson replied with his first of the playoffs and then Ryan Johansen tied the game a couple of minutes later. It took about 10 minutes of back and forth hockey, but Gallagher was intense once he got back on the ice and on a mission to get his team back the lead. At 17:49 of the middle frame he tipped a Neil Manning shot past Carruth. Connauton got the other helper. With time ticking down in the middle frame and 12 secs remaining in their PP, Gallagher again tipped a Manning shot past the Portland netminder. Craig Cunningham got the other assist on the play.
Gallagher completed the natural hat early in the third, getting some help from Bouma and Dillon Scholten who was in the mix tonight. It didn’t take the Winterhawks long to reply though as they notched two more quick ones of their own, slipping the puck past Mark Segal for a couple he should have had a hand on. Getting to within one the Winterhawks watched the Giants vapour trails a few minutes later when the Vancouver squad stepped it up into another gear. Wright who had been around the puck all night finally got one of his own to go, getting some great work from Tomas Vincour. Lance Bouma found the twine a couple of minutes later, off of some great work by Cunningham. The game devolved into a line brawl as Aronson was once again in the middle of the rough stuff, getting a fighting major and game misconduct. Along with Ross who was the instigator jumping onto top of a pile of players to start the free-for-all, Ponich and Neiderreitter. On the Giants side - the whole thing started with a check from behind by Milan Kytnar on Ross, but the Giants were not ready to back down from any kind of game the Winterhawks wanted to play. Henry was in the fray getting a fighting major and a game and David Musil had his nose in there as well. Ross received a game as well, which could make Sunday’s tilt interesting if the league upholds those game misconducts and suspends those three players with a game in the press box.
After the dust had settled the Portland squad seemed to be re-energized bringing more of their game back to fore. The Giants blinked, but did not fold though and despite allowing a tally late in the game, pushed through to get the win. Ty Rattie slipped a puck past Segal, who made some great stops, lost his stick at one point and then seemed more concerned with recovering his stick than stopping the puck. Loss of focus is definitely a weakness for the Giants ‘tender and one he needs to address as it is completely under his control and is the difference between being okay and being elite. The Winterhawks pulled their goalie in the hope of generating more offense, but Gallagher put the exclamation point on the game killing that drive very quickly scoring an empty netter and salting away the victory. The gloves were dropped again at the 20:00 mark of the third as the Winterhawks were sending a message for Sunday.
The Giants out shot the Winterhawks 49-37, but the Winterhawks were able to top the G’s in the third barely out shooting the visitors. The Giants went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Winterhawks were 0 for 4. It was not difficult to find the back of the net in this one and I expect that both teams will be ready to play a bit tighter game on Sunday. The playoff format for this series is 2-3-2 and with the win the Giants gain the advantage in the series. The Portland squad hasn’t had a great home record for the playoffs so far as they have won all of their games on the road and none in their own barn. The two teams tangle again on Sunday mere hours after they ended this one, so the emotions are still going to be fresh and could find the teams show up with axes ready to grind. The puck drops at 5pm on Easter Sunday in Portland for game two and could go a multitude of ways.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Gallagher
2. Ryan Johansen
3. James Wright