Portland seems to have Giants’ number
Vancouver has yet to win this season against team they could find themselves facing in playoffs
The Vancouver Giants’ winning percentage gets a boost when you leave out games against the Portland Winterhawks.
The Giants’ record fell to 39-14-2-1 and their season mark against the Winterhawks to 0-3-1-0 on Monday when Portland secured a 5-3 win before a crowd of 4,533 in a Family Day Matinee at the Langley Events Centre.
Vancouver doesn’t face Portland in their final 12 regular-season games. There’s a chance that they could square off again with the Winterhawks in the playoffs, though, assuming both clubs win their first two rounds and make it to the Western Conference final.
Portland (36-16-3-3) was playing their third game in as many days Monday and opted to sit out centre Cody Glass, the Canadian world junior team No. 1 pivot who returned to action Saturday after missing eight games with a knee injury.
Glass had a goal Saturday in a 2-0 win over the Red Deer Rebels and three assists Sunday in a 5-2 triumph over the Seattle Thunderbirds, pushing him to 68 points in just 36 games.
“They don’t beat themselves,” Giants coach Michael Dyck said when asked about the trouble Portland has given his club this season. “They play a very methodical game. They also have you on your heels at times because you’re nervous about their speed and their transition game.
“At the end of the day, they do what they do and they do it very well.”
The loss ended a seven-game Vancouver win streak and marked just the third time in the last 19 games (16-2-0-1) that the Giants have been beaten. Portland had the other regulation-play triumph over Vancouver in that span with a 3-0 win Feb. 1 at home.
The Giants and the Winterhawks are both trying to chase down the Everett Silvertips for top spot in the Western Conference and, in Portland’s case, first in the U.S. Division. Everett had a 40-14-1-2 mark going into a Tuesday meeting with the Prince George Cougars, which gave them a twopoint cushion on the Giants and a five-point lead on the Winterhawks.
As of Tuesday morning, Vancouver had a game in hand on Everett, while the Winterhawks had played one more than the Silvertips.
The B.C. and U.S. Division winners play the two wildcard winners in the best-ofseven first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The second- and third-place teams from the two divisions meet in the other quarter-finals.
The Victoria Royals are the second-place team in B.C., and the 29-24-1-2 record they carried into a Tuesday meeting with the Kelowna Rockets left them 20 points behind Vancouver. The Giants meet Victoria three times this weekend, starting with the Royals’ Friday visit to the LEC (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet 650).
The Giants have already completed their season series with Everett. They finished 2-2-0-0.
Everett and Portland meet once, squaring off in Portland on March 12.
Vancouver dressed eight defencemen against Portland, playing Nicholas Draffin and call-up Tanner Brown as forwards due to injuries to centre Evan Patrician (upper-body injury) and wingers Brayden Watts (upper-body injury) and Dawson Holt (lower-body injury). They didn’t have any forwards off their protected list available, according to general manager Barclay Parneta.
Dyck said that he was “hoping Evan Patrician is close to coming back” this coming weekend and that Holt is “getting closer.” Watts, who was wearing a shoulder sling at the game Monday, is week-toweek, although Parneta has said that his ailment isn’t season-ending.
Watts, who turns 20 on Thursday, has missed the past three games. Holt, who turned 20 on Saturday, has missed 11, and Patrician, 17, has been out for five games.
Watts sees the most ice time of the three currently sidelined, usually playing the left side on a forward unit with Milos Roman and Justin Sourdif. Dyck has routinely given them first-line minutes in games. Watts is fifth on the team in scoring, with 33 points, including 12 goals, in 52 games.