Giants Outlast Blazers in Shootout

Brett Kulak scored the winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout to lift the Vancouver Giants to a 4-3 win over the Kamloops Blazers at the Interior Savings Centre on Saturday night. With the win, the Giants have now won four of their last five games and completed a stretch of eight games in 11 days with a record of 5-3. The G-Men got goals from Blake Orban, Dalton Thrower and Thomas Foster.

The Giants opened the scoring 25 seconds into the game when Orban’s shot from the right point found the back of the net as Kamloops goalie Bolton Pouliot couldn’t track the puck through traffic. The Blazers tied the game just after the five minute mark when Collin Shirley, who was acquired from the Kootenay Ice last month, netted his first goal as a Blazer, deflecting a point shot between the legs of Payton Lee.

Vancouver retook the lead on a power play in the second period when Thrower’s slap shot from the point hit the crossbar, bounced off Pouliot’s back and trickled across the goal line.

The Giants held the lead until the latter half of the third period when Nick Chyzowski tallied his first WHL goal to tie the game for Kamloops. Vancouver bounced back to retake the lead just over a minute later when Foster buried a one-timer from the slot after a pretty pass from behind the net by Travis McEvoy. The Blazers wouldn’t be deterred though as Chyzowski went hard to the net and a rebound ricocheted off him and across the goal line to make it 3-3.

Kamloops out shot Vancouver 4-1 in the overtime period, but neither side scored the winner. Cain Franson and Kulak found the net in the shootout while Matt Needham had the lone goal for the Blazers in the skills contest.

The G-Men will be back at the Coliseum on Tuesday evening to face the Edmonton Oil Kings. For ticketing information, call 604-4-GIANTS or visit vancouvergiants.com.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Nick Chyzowski - Kamloops
2. Aspen Sterzer - Kamloops
3. Collin Shirley - Kamloops