A trip to Alberta didn't wrap up the way Vancouver Giants fans would have liked, with the team suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of the Medicine Hat Tigers and Edmonton Oil Kings.
However, the two losses followed a more-than-respectable win on Friday, Oct.11, that saw Giants forward Cameron Schmidt delivered a dazzling overtime winner in Lethbridge, helping the Giants edge the Hurricanes 4-3.
Tyson Zimmer, Tyler Thorpe and Aaron Obobaifo each scored in regulation for the G-Men, while Matthew Hutchison won his third straight start with 27 saves, improving his record to 4-1 this season.
Schmidt now leads the entire Western Hockey League in goals with nine, while his 12 points are tied for third.
Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio called it "a good road win.
"That鈥檚 a good club over there, so it feels good getting two points tonight," Maglio commented.
Saturday night, Oct.12, Tigers scored four power play goals 鈥� two of them on a 5-on-3 in the third period 鈥� in a 5-2 win over the Giants at Co-op Place.
Giants had a 2-1 lead entering the third period thanks to goals from Tyson Zimmer and Adam Titlbach, but after a double minor for high sticking and a roughing penalty were called on Vancouver nine seconds apart, the Tigers took advantage and scored three power play goals in a span of 1:31.
Oasis Weisblatt and Hunter St. Martin had a pair of goals each for the home side, while Gavin McKenna scored the other Tigers goal.
Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio blamed alack of discipline.
"I think we played about 45 minutes tonight and then got into some discipline trouble that cost us the game," commented.
"I liked us through two periods there. Good learning lesson for us. There were some positives for sure, but at the end of the day, it came down to some discipline and a full two-minute 5-on-3, right?"
A Monday matinee game against the Oil Kings was closer, but the outcome was the same.
Two goals, 18 seconds apart late in the third period by Edmonton saw Vancouver fall 5-4.
The loss drops the Giants record to 5-4-0-0. They finish their five-game Alberta road trip with a 2-3 record.
Similar to Saturday's loss in Medicine Hat, the Giants got into some penalty trouble with a 4-3 lead. They managed to kill off a tripping penalty with eight minutes left, but that same penalty killing unit was then stuck on the ice, which led to Edmonton's 4-4 goal. Giants were then called for a bench minor, which led to the game-winning power play marker with 5:25 left in the game.
Next up, a Saturday, Oct. 19 home stand against Prince Albert at Langley Events Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
