Another good tilt by the Giants vs the Winterhawks, but Portland's top players were just too much on the night. Boes also stood on his head.

Winterhawks Freeze Giants
Vancouver 2 Portland 5 EN


The Giants opened the scoring as Franson finally found the back of the net. Portland responded with two before the end of the period. Lee was much better in this one and it took a great shot to beat him for his first goal against. A hard fought battle, but the Hawks top players shone in this one and Pouliot had an amazing game. There was no scoring in the second as the Giants played to lose as opposed to trying to win, with a paltry 5 shots on Corbin Boes. The third was a different story. Boes had to be brilliant at times in the third as the Giants brought the pushback, getting 19 shots on the Portland netminder. Portland added an early one in the third and the Giants responded on the PP not long after. Portland added another as they ground down Lee with some great chances. The home squad potted an empty netter when the Giants pulled their goalie with just over a minute thirty to go. Portland took six straight penalties in the second and third periods, but the Giants were unable to make them pay and Boes was a big reason.

Cain Franson opened the scoring at 7:15 of the first. Carter Popoff had the lone helper. The Hawks responded with two including their only PP marker of the game. No scoring in the second. The Portland squad added another in the third. Dalton Sward got that one back a few minutes later on the Giants only PP goal, on 9 chances, in the game. Popoff and Dalton Thrower had the assists. Portland pressured the Giants net, finally solving a very good Lee later in the period. They added an empty net goal with about 1:20 left to play.

Fight Night: nada .. lots of penalties, mostly off the ticky tack variety

Zebra Cage: Brett Iverson and Jason Nissen. Not exactly shy with the whistles these two. Their favourite call tonight was slashing by a large margin. One has to wonder if there really was that much slashing or a few taps that whistle happy refs were blowing down like dandelions in springtime. 15 penalties for PP seems way too many. Kind of ruined what was a hard fought tilt.

The Giants out shot the Hawks 43-38. They went 1 for 9 on the PP, while the home team was 1 for 6. The Ams top players were their top players and their netminder was a major factor this game was not closer. Sward had jump as did Popoff.

The Giants got 2 points on their three game road trip and now come home for three in four nights as the eastern conference teams come to play. The Tigers on Wednesday, followed by Lethbridge on Friday and on Saturday back to their own division when the surging Royals could prove a challenge.

Three Stars

1. Brendan Leipsic
2. Corbin Boes
3. Derek Pouliot