Blazers keep Giants in check
Upstart visitors unable to repeat first-round Game 1 performance
If the Vancouver Giants are going to pull of another playoff upset, they're going to have accomplish it without the benefit of a head start this time.
The No. 8 seeded Giants dropped a 3-1 decision to the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers Friday night at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops to open the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference semifinals. Game 2 is today at the Sandman Centre, while the series shifts to the Langley Events Centre for Game 3 on Tuesday.
The Giants beat the No. 1 Everett Silvertips 5-4 in overtime in Game 1 of the best-of-seven quarterfinals and then went on to knock off the Silvertips in six games. It was the first time since the WHL playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 2002 that a No. 8 seed had beaten a No. 1 in the first round. Vancouver (2439-5-0) finished 47 points behind Everett (45-13-5-5) in the regular season. Kamloops (48-17-3-0) was one point behind Everett.
The Blazers got one goal and one assist from Caedan Bankier. He now has points in 15 straight games dating back to the regular season. Reese Belton and Ethan Rowland also scored for Kamloops. Dylan Garand made 30 saves.
Adam Hall broke Garand's shutout with 12:56 to go on a redirection of a Damian Palmieri shot. It was his eighth of the playoffs.
Jesper Vikman made 35 saves for Vancouver.
Vancouver's power play, which was pedestrian all regular season but connected at an eye-popping 37.5 per cent (12-of-32) clip against Everett, was held to to 0-of-3 Friday. Vancouver's top line of Hall, Fabian Lysell, and Zack Ostapchuk, which spearheaded the series win, was held to seven combined shots. They had 15 shots combined in Game 1 versus Everett.
Any chances of a Vancouver comeback were negated when defenceman Alex Cotton was assessed a tripping penalty with 1:58. That's just part of the story. Here's what else we learned.
TOUGH SHIFT TIMES TWO
Vancouver athletic trainer Mike Burnstein and his Kamloops counterpart Colin Robinson both ended up on the ice with 37.2 seconds remaining in the first period to take care of one of their players.
Burnstein was out there for Vancouver defenceman Mazden Leslie, who had gotten twisted up trying to make a play around the Vancouver net. Leslie had tried to get off the ice on his own during game action, and that's when Kamloops forward Luke Toporowski stole the puck, went in all alone on Vikman and then tumbled into the back wall after being thwarted. Robinson was attending to Toporowski.
Neither Leslie nor Toporowski returned to the game.
Leslie seemed to favour an ankle. He looked like he got hurt in the waning stages of Game 6 against Everett as well. Toporowski seemed to have a shoulder issue. He missed the Blazers' final 12 regular-season games with a lower body injury, but he played all four games in the Blazers' first-round sweep of the Spokane Chiefs. He had five goals and 10 points against Spokane.
INJURY WOES FOR GIANTS
Vancouver winger Colton Langkow left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury. He missed Game 2 of the Everett series. He's been listed as a gametime decision at various times during these playoffs.
Langkow has played his best hockey this season in the playoffs. His rugged style seems a fit with the post-season.
Sammy May, who played one game with the Giants in the regular season and spent the majority of the campaign playing junior A with both the Langley Rivermen and the Drayton Valley Thunder, and underage call-up Justin Ivanusec are the extra forwards that Vancouver took on the trip. Payton Mount (upper body), who got hurt in the Everett series, didn't go to Kamloops, nor did Cole Shepard (lower body) or Jacob Boucher (lower body).