All was decided in the final 10 seconds of the game in the provincial capital last night.
The 黑马磁力-based Vancouver Giants dropped a 鈥渉eartbreaker鈥� to the Victoria Royals Saturday, before returning home for their third game of the weekend on home ice at 黑马磁力 Events Centre today against Red Deer, said Giants play-by-play broadcaster Dan O鈥機onnor.
With 36 seconds left in the game, Giants forward and star scorer Ty Ronning buried his second of the night on a power play to tie the game 3-3.
But 26 seconds later Royals forward Dino Kambeitz restored Victoria鈥檚 lead on a breakaway goal that came with 10 seconds left in regulation. That鈥檚 the one that cinched the game and helped secure Victoria鈥檚 ranking in the B.C. division as the regular season play comes within a month of wrapping up.
Kambeitz finished the game with two goals for the Royals, as did Tyler Soy.
Ronning had two of three markers for Vancouver, while Brayden Watts had the other tally.
The Giants got 38 saves on 42 shots faced from 16-year-old rookie netminder Trent Miner who was named the game鈥檚 second star for his efforts in just his second career WHL start.
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How the game played out
Territorially, the first period belonged the Victoria Royals who outshot the Giants 19-3.
Giants netminder Trent Miner was tested early and often, but turned aside everything fired his way.
One of his biggest saves came at the 12:10 mark off a penalty-shot attempt from Royals captain Matthew Phillips.
鈥淧hillips made a crafty move to the backhand, but the rookie netminder didn鈥檛 bite, and kicked out his right leg to deny the Royals leading scorer,鈥� O鈥機onnor said.
Period two was much more balanced, as the Giants would outshot the Royals 15-14 and snagged the game鈥檚 first goal on a power play less than two minutes in.
鈥淭y Ronning parked himself in front of the Royals net and snuck a backhand rebound past Royals netminder Griffen Outhouse for his 52nd of the season and his first of two on the night. 鈥�
Victoria answered at 11:57 when Kambeitz raced wide on the Giants defence, cut to the front of the net and snuck a forehand past the left pad of Miner. Kambeitz鈥� first goal of the evening came on the Royals 30th shot on goal.
鈥淭hrough 40 minutes the Giants and Royals remained knotted at 1-1, but the third period would prove fruitful offensively for both clubs,鈥� O鈥機onnor said.
Victoria grabbed their first lead of the night at 1:59 of the third when Tyler Soy snuck in close and one-timed home a feed from Phillips from behind the goal for his 31st.
Back came the Giants at 13:15 when Watts blasted his 15th of the season past Outhouse from the top of the left circle. For Watts it was his third goal in as many games and was assisted by Jared Dmytriw and Brennan Riddle.
鈥淭he two teams were far from finished.鈥�
At 16:06, Tyler Soy pushed Victoria ahead once again when he stuffed a Phillips rebound home from in close for his second of the night.
But with time winding down in the game, the Giants were rewarded their third power play of the game, and with their net empty managed to tie the game once again.
鈥淎fter winning a faceoff to the left of Outhouse, the Giants got the puck to James Malm along the right-wing boards. Malm snuck into the circle and placed a perfect cross-ice pass to Ty Ronning at the left side of the net who made no mistake. His 53rd of the season came with 36 seconds remaining in the game and overtime seemed imminent.鈥�
Unfortunately for the Giants, Victoria had one last gasp of offence left.
After the Giants had forced the puck deep into the Royals zone, Royals defenceman Ralph Jarratt gathered the puck, skated up the middle and placed a perfect pass onto the stick of Kambeitz who had snuck behind the Giants defense.
From there, Kambeitz raced in alone on Miner and placed a low shot through the legs and home to send the crowd of 5,816 into a frenzy. The Giants simply didn鈥檛 have enough time to respond.
Victoria finished the game with a 42-27 edge in shots.
Vancouver ended up winning the special-teams battle going two-for-three on the power play and one-for-one on the penalty kill.
With Saturday鈥檚 set-back the Giants record now sits at 31-19-5-3. They now trail the Royals by five points for second place in the B.C. Division but still hold three games in hand. The Royals are one point shy of Kelowna for first in the division but have played in two more games.
Up next for the Giants, they matchup at home Sunday at 4 p.m. against the Red Deer Rebels (20-26-10-3).
