Sward opened the scoring for the Giants on the power play in the first period when he pounced on a giveaway by Blazers goalie Cole Kehler and netted his 14th of the year. Atwal rippled the mesh with a power play marker of his own a few minutes later, sneaking a long wrist shot across the goal line. Volek gave the Giants a three-goal lead with a goal of the year candidate as he dangled through a couple of Kamloops defenders before burying a hard backhander. Cole Ully answered back for the Blazers late in the frame, completing a tic-tac-toe passing play with Chase Souto and Matt Revel to put Kamloops on the board.
Franson nearly extended the Vancouver lead in the middle frame with a great wraparound opportunity that went through the crease and out the far side. Shortly thereafter, Ully scored again to pull the Blazers to within one. However, the Giants responded in the final minute of the period when Sward tallied his second of the evening on a man advantage, firing a hard shot past Kehler, off the underside of the cross-bar and into the net.
The Blazers made it a one-goal game again in the third period when Collin Shirley forced a turnover at the Vancouver blue line and beat Lee top shelf on the glove side, but the Giants restored their two-goal lead again 1:09 later as Franson shovelled the rebound of a Mason Geertsen point shot into a yawning cage. The Kamloops club pulled the goalie in the late going but couldn't generate any more offence. With the victory, the Giants moved into a tie with the Everett Silvertips for sixth in the Western Conference.
The Giants will now head out on the road for a weekend double-header in Victoria against the Royals. The first game goes Friday night at 7:00pm. Hear the action on TEAM 1410 and teamradio.ca.
Game Summary
3 Stars:
1. Dalton Sward - Vancouver
2. Cole Ully - Kamloops
3. Tyler Morrison - Vancouver
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