Vancouver Giants needed a win on Tuesday night, March 12 and they got one, recording a season-high 47 shots on goal in a 5-1 win over the visiting Tri-City Americans at the Langley Events Centre on Tuesday, March 12..
Jaden Lipinski, Ty Halaburda, and Cameron Schmidt combined for seven points in the victory.
Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros thought the players “were really focused and dialled in. It was two points we needed tonight.”
Now that the team has clinched a spot in playoffs, “our second goal is that we want to get to fifth place,” Viveiros said.
“If we come out with a really good record out of these last five games, we have a good chance of fifth place and that’s what we want.”
Giants are now back over .500, with an overall record of 30-29-4-0 (64 points), which places them in seventh place in the Western Conference Standings. Vancouver is now just two points back of the fifth-place Kelowna Rockets (66 points) and one point back of the sixth-place Victoria Royals (65 points).
Lipinski’s two goals on Tuesday helped him reach the 20-goal plateau on the season, becoming the sixth Giant to record 20 or more goals in 2023-24. Also scoring for Vancouver was Connor Levis (21st), Mazden Leslie (14th) and Adam Titlbach (9th).
The lone Tri-City came from rookie Cash Koch.
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Giants needed less than four minutes to open the scoring, as Matthew Edwards shot from the top of the left circle ricocheted off Levis in front of the net and went in to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead at the 3:22 mark of the opening period.
In the dying seconds of the first period, Leslie doubled the Giants lead.
Americans cut the Giants lead in half 6:41 into the second period when Koch was wide open in the slot and beat Mirwald for his 10th of the year.
Vancouver restored their two-goal advantage, after a quick pass from Schmidt from the left corner out front to Lipinski.
After 40 minutes, the Giants not only had a two-goal lead, but were also out-shooting Tri-City 34-17.
Lipinski got his 20th of the season into the empty net with 1:09 left to make it 4-1, before Titlbach scored his ninth of the season with under a minute to play to make the final score 5-1.
Halaburda and Leslie were first and second stars of the game.
Giants now have a 3-in-3 upcoming this weekend, as they host the Kamloops Blazers on Friday at the Langley Events Centre at 7 p.m., before hitting the road for a rematch with Kamloops on Saturday night at 6 p.m. On Sunday, they’ll host Prince George at 4 p.m.
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