dondo
03-27-2011, 04:48 PM
Americans Grind Giants
Vancouver 4 Tri-City 5
After a tightly contested battle the night before when neither team could buy a goal, tonight’s tilt was almost the polar opposite with goals coming early and often. The Giants opened the scoring on their first shift, but the Americans clawed that back a couple of minutes later. The Ams added two more, one of which was a poor SH chance given by the Giants who were once again very inconsistent with the man-advantage, before the Giants got one of those back on the PP late in the first. Vancouver tied the game back up and then allowed a poor goal against to give the Ams back the lead. The home squad added one more mid-second on the Ams first PP marker of the game. Vancouver got one back on the PP, before the end of the middle frame. Neither team scored in the third, but the Giants had the best chances as they badly squandered a few PP chances, failing to score that tying marker they needed to force OT. Mark Segal would want a couple of goals back in this one, as he did not keep his game at the same level as Friday evening. Drew Owsley was a bit better, but also was still not the level he was on Friday night. The shots were pretty even and the chances likewise. The Giants seem to lacking that level of intensity they need to win these kinds of playoff games.
Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring 24 seconds into the game, beating Owsley with a nice shot. Wes Vannieuwenhuizen had the lone assist. Brendan Shinnimin got that back a couple minutes later. Patrick Holland added another one for the Americans mid-period. Justin Feser score a back-breaker of a SH’d tally late in the period, which put the Giants down by two. The visitors got back to within one with a very late PP chance as Michael Burns found twine going to the net. Assists went to Greg Lamoureux and Neil Manning. Michael set-up brother Nathan early in the second, to once again tie the game. Neil Prokop got the lead back just under 5 minutes later. Matt MacKenzie found twine mid-period on the Americans only PP goal of the game, scoring just before a 5 on 3 advantage was about to end. Jordan Martinook got the Giants back to within one with a PP marker at 18:57 of the middle frame. There were no goals in the third despite the Giants getting four PP opportunities.
Rookie Watch: Bellerive was a -3 playing some better minutes and on the PP for the SH goal against. Franson was a -1. Hart was even with no PIMs. Cooke and Neilsen were both scratches. Sward still injured. Hodder was scratched, not sure if he’s still battling an injury.
Fight Night: Only one fight at the 20:00 mark of the game. Andrej Stastny and Tyler Schmidt throwing down in a tilt of frustration. A chippy game though with a bunch of high-sticking calls and a fair amount of roughing calls.
Zebra Cage: The refs did not allow the boys to play in this one as the penalties were plentiful. They showed some restraint in some ways, but called what they needed to call for the most part. Considering it was Matt Kirk, I find that rather amazing.
The Ams barely outshot the Giants 33-32, going 1 for 5 on their PP chances. The Giants went 2 for 9, but could not get their PP to work when they needed it most. Part of that were the Ams defenders, but a bigger part was sloppy puck play by the red-mohawked Vancouver squad. The Americans had a few too many good short-handed chances for my liking. I love Gallagher’s energy and drive, but a few too many times he’s given that hit from behind or not tried not too hard to get out the goalie’s way and taken some unnecessary penalties. He was fortunate not to have taken a 5 min major for a check from behind in this game, which would have had unfortunate ramifications later in the series. It feels like the boys could be there if they would erase some of those lazy and sloppy aspects from their game and keep up the pressure. The Americans seem to struggle when the Giants bring a good hard forecheck, but when they give them time to move that’s when the G’s get into trouble. The Ams are a team that thrive on other teams mistakes and use their speed and mobility best, but do not always fair well versus an aggressive forecheck that gives them little or no time and space. Sitting back is death versus this team and although you can’t put yourself out of position, it is necessary to check them close and tenaciously. Some teams you can sit back and let them come to you. This is not one of those teams and it’s one of the reasons they have given the Giants such fits this season.
Game 3 moves to The Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday March 29, 2011. The Giants really need to win both if they have a hope in this series. Credit them for being in every game so far, but they need to get to that next level and make their early leads count. Twice they have opened the scoring and twice they have taken close losses. I still don’t think it’s their year, but to be honest they have surprised me so far with how tightly they have been playing the Americans who will often have games where they score at will and shut the door versus the G-Men. The boys have a chance to get back into this one. The puck drops on Tuesday at 7pm PDT.
Three Stars
1. Patrick Holland
2. Brendan Gallagher
3. Mason Wilgosh
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to – Michael Burns with some nice hard work when the Giants were down. Gallagher missed out due to his poor penalties, but was always dangerous out on the ice.
Vancouver 4 Tri-City 5
After a tightly contested battle the night before when neither team could buy a goal, tonight’s tilt was almost the polar opposite with goals coming early and often. The Giants opened the scoring on their first shift, but the Americans clawed that back a couple of minutes later. The Ams added two more, one of which was a poor SH chance given by the Giants who were once again very inconsistent with the man-advantage, before the Giants got one of those back on the PP late in the first. Vancouver tied the game back up and then allowed a poor goal against to give the Ams back the lead. The home squad added one more mid-second on the Ams first PP marker of the game. Vancouver got one back on the PP, before the end of the middle frame. Neither team scored in the third, but the Giants had the best chances as they badly squandered a few PP chances, failing to score that tying marker they needed to force OT. Mark Segal would want a couple of goals back in this one, as he did not keep his game at the same level as Friday evening. Drew Owsley was a bit better, but also was still not the level he was on Friday night. The shots were pretty even and the chances likewise. The Giants seem to lacking that level of intensity they need to win these kinds of playoff games.
Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring 24 seconds into the game, beating Owsley with a nice shot. Wes Vannieuwenhuizen had the lone assist. Brendan Shinnimin got that back a couple minutes later. Patrick Holland added another one for the Americans mid-period. Justin Feser score a back-breaker of a SH’d tally late in the period, which put the Giants down by two. The visitors got back to within one with a very late PP chance as Michael Burns found twine going to the net. Assists went to Greg Lamoureux and Neil Manning. Michael set-up brother Nathan early in the second, to once again tie the game. Neil Prokop got the lead back just under 5 minutes later. Matt MacKenzie found twine mid-period on the Americans only PP goal of the game, scoring just before a 5 on 3 advantage was about to end. Jordan Martinook got the Giants back to within one with a PP marker at 18:57 of the middle frame. There were no goals in the third despite the Giants getting four PP opportunities.
Rookie Watch: Bellerive was a -3 playing some better minutes and on the PP for the SH goal against. Franson was a -1. Hart was even with no PIMs. Cooke and Neilsen were both scratches. Sward still injured. Hodder was scratched, not sure if he’s still battling an injury.
Fight Night: Only one fight at the 20:00 mark of the game. Andrej Stastny and Tyler Schmidt throwing down in a tilt of frustration. A chippy game though with a bunch of high-sticking calls and a fair amount of roughing calls.
Zebra Cage: The refs did not allow the boys to play in this one as the penalties were plentiful. They showed some restraint in some ways, but called what they needed to call for the most part. Considering it was Matt Kirk, I find that rather amazing.
The Ams barely outshot the Giants 33-32, going 1 for 5 on their PP chances. The Giants went 2 for 9, but could not get their PP to work when they needed it most. Part of that were the Ams defenders, but a bigger part was sloppy puck play by the red-mohawked Vancouver squad. The Americans had a few too many good short-handed chances for my liking. I love Gallagher’s energy and drive, but a few too many times he’s given that hit from behind or not tried not too hard to get out the goalie’s way and taken some unnecessary penalties. He was fortunate not to have taken a 5 min major for a check from behind in this game, which would have had unfortunate ramifications later in the series. It feels like the boys could be there if they would erase some of those lazy and sloppy aspects from their game and keep up the pressure. The Americans seem to struggle when the Giants bring a good hard forecheck, but when they give them time to move that’s when the G’s get into trouble. The Ams are a team that thrive on other teams mistakes and use their speed and mobility best, but do not always fair well versus an aggressive forecheck that gives them little or no time and space. Sitting back is death versus this team and although you can’t put yourself out of position, it is necessary to check them close and tenaciously. Some teams you can sit back and let them come to you. This is not one of those teams and it’s one of the reasons they have given the Giants such fits this season.
Game 3 moves to The Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday March 29, 2011. The Giants really need to win both if they have a hope in this series. Credit them for being in every game so far, but they need to get to that next level and make their early leads count. Twice they have opened the scoring and twice they have taken close losses. I still don’t think it’s their year, but to be honest they have surprised me so far with how tightly they have been playing the Americans who will often have games where they score at will and shut the door versus the G-Men. The boys have a chance to get back into this one. The puck drops on Tuesday at 7pm PDT.
Three Stars
1. Patrick Holland
2. Brendan Gallagher
3. Mason Wilgosh
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to – Michael Burns with some nice hard work when the Giants were down. Gallagher missed out due to his poor penalties, but was always dangerous out on the ice.