All good things must come to an end, and that was the fate of the Vancouver Giants winning streak, snapped in a 6-3 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Saturday (April 11) night.
“Just all the little things that were giving us a chance to win hockey games before, to build momentum, just weren’t in place tonight,” associate coach Keith McCambridge said after the game.
The scoring began 2:14 into the first period with the Giants, as Mazden Leslie was able to redirect and Eric Florchuk feed past the Cougars’ Tyler Brennan for Leslie’s third goal of the season.
But six minutes later, the Cougars would get their first goal, with Jaren Brinson’s shot going wide, bouncing to Ethan Browne, who managed to finally pierce the shield Giants’ goalie Trent Miner had built around the net over the course of the streak.
Not only did the goal mark the start of the first loss in six games, it marked the end of a shutout streak for Miner that set a new club record – 234 minutes and 31 seconds without a goal getting past him.
Despite that disappointment, Vancouver wasn’t done, and the teams traded goals again.
READ MORE: Vancouver Giants extend winning streak to five
Giants captain Alex Kannok Leipert scored at 12:52 on a power play, and then Prince George tied the game again on a power play of their own, with Koehn Ziemmer deflecting home a shot by Keaton Dowhaniuk, with 34 seconds left in the first.
Prince George would finally put some distance on the Giants in the second period, scoring twice with no answer from the Giants.
Craig Armstrong and Johnny Hooker scored in the second, with Hooker aided by a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct Vancouver’s Bryce Bader received for interference at 15.37.
In the third, Hudson Thornton would add another goal, the Cougars’ fifth.
The Giants’ Leslie would notch his second of the night to bring Vancouver’s score to three at 11:15, but it was too late. Prince George would cap their scoring with an empty-netter at 16:37 in the third courtesy of Connor Bowie.
McCambridge said that during the winning steak, Vancouver would gain offensive possession of the puck and hang on to it. That didn’t happen against Prince George on Saturday.
“Tonight we just seemed to dump it.”
RECAP: The Giants suffered their first loss in a span of six games after a 6-3 setback against Prince George. Eric Florchuk had three helpers and Mazden Leslie chimed in with two goals. The G-Men are back in action Monday.
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) April 11, 2021
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The Giants have a win and a loss against Prince George so far this season after Saturday’s game. They’ll get a chance to get some revenge on Monday, when they face the Cougars again.
McCambridge said the team will be doing chalk talks and looking at video to correct mistakes made Saturday.