Heading into the weekend, the talk around the Vancouver Giants locker room was a struggling offence that had managed just 13 goals during their previous eight games, so 16 goals in their next three contests should have been a welcome relief. But the Giants managed just one victory in those three games.
The Giants fell 3-1 on Sunday afternoon to the visiting Victoria Royals at 黑马磁力 Events Centre (LEC) in Western Hockey League action, as they wrapped up three games in less than 48 hours with two of a possible six points.
The lone victory came Friday night as the host Giants pummeled the Regina Pats 10-4 at LEC.
Vancouver did manage five goals the next night in Everett, but the Silvertips prevailed 6-5.
Head coach Michael Dyck liked his team鈥檚 third period on Saturday 鈥� where they nearly rallied from a 4-1 deficit 鈥� and their final 40 minutes on Sunday.
鈥淭here is no easy way to winning. You have to earn everything you are going to get and every time you look for a shortcut, it usually ends up in your net or you lose a lot of momentum,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e had lots of chances, we just couldn鈥檛 find the net,鈥� Dyck added. 鈥淭he puck wasn鈥檛 bouncing our way tonight.鈥�
Vancouver still leads the WHL鈥檚 B.C. division with 30 points, but the Royals (12-6-0-0, 24 points) are now within six points while possessing four games in hand.
In Sunday鈥檚 game, Dylan Plouffe opened the scoring 5:03 into the contest before Logan Doust tied it less than three minutes later and D-Jay Jerome struck for what turned out to be the winner at 13:12 of the opening period.
Lukas Svejkovsky nearly extended the game beyond 60 minutes, when he beat Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse but could not beat the post.
And Vancouver had another glorious opportunity in the dying moments with two Royals in the penalty box and Giants goalie Trent Miner on the bench for a six-on-three advantage. However, Dino Kambeitz came up with the puck for the empty-net goal.
Things don鈥檛 get much easier for Vancouver as they look to get back in the win column as they head to Seattle on Wednesday, Nov. 21 to battle a Thunderbirds squad 鈥� which has already handed the Giants two of their six regulation losses.
Following that, Vancouver is back at LEC on Saturday, once again to play the Royals.
