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VIDEO: Vancouver Giants win dramatic 3-2 victory over Kamloops

Teams hangs on to win home ice playoff victory
Langley Advance Times Staff

We have a series.

Alex Cotton’s power-play goal with under four minutes to play combined with a chaotic goal-mouth scramble with 3.7 seconds remaining where somehow Kamloops was not able to slide the puck across the goal line, helped the Vancouver Giants to a crucial 3-2 victory on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre.

The Kamloops Blazers still lead the Western Hockey League Western Conference best-of-seven semi-final series two games to one. Game four is set for Thursday night at 7 p.m. back at Langley Events Centre.

This marked the first time in seven post-season games that the Blazers were on the wrong end of a score as they swept the Spokane Chiefs 4-0 – by a combined score of 23-3 – in their quarter-final series. Kamloops is the second seed after finishing 46 points ahead of the eighth-place Giants during the regular season and the Blazers went 10-1-1 in a dozen head-to-head meetings with their BC Division rivals.

But this Giants team has proven different than the one which limped into the final playoff spot with a single victory in their final dozen regular season games.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Giants suffer second loss in hard-fought road game against Kamloops

“It has been rolling like this for a couple of weeks now and even before that. We have been starting to build a lot of chemistry and a lot of belief in our group and I think they are just carrying it through,” said Vancouver coach Michael Dyck.

Tuesday’s game began with Kamloops controlling the early part and generating the firs five shots on goal, but it was the Giants who opened the scoring at the 11:55 mark when Justin Lies ripped home a shot from the slot. That stood as the only goal until the 9:45 point of the middle stanza with Fraser Minten evening the score at one, just two seconds after a Vancouver penalty expired.

Vancouver Giants have new life in their second-round playoff series with the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants held three different leads on Tuesday night, May 10, and held on to their third one in a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. (Gary Ahuja, Langley Events Centre/Special to Langley Advance Times)
Vancouver Giants have new life in their second-round playoff series with the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants held three different leads on Tuesday night, May 10, and held on to their third one in a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. (Gary Ahuja, Langley Events Centre/Special to Langley Advance Times)

The Giants’ Ty Thorpe restored the lead with a power-play goal four minutes later and the home side took a 2-1 lead into the locker room before Kamloops’ Drew Englot tied the score at two just before the midway point of the third period as he redirected a point shot for the power play goal.

But with overtime looming, Vancouver drew a penalty, won the face-off, and got the puck to Alex Cotton, who blasted home his sixth of the playoffs. Cotton leads all WHL defencemen in scoring with six goals and 16 points and his point total has him tied for third among all players.

“We knew we were getting a good two-way defenceman with obviously a lot of offensive upside; he is really bringing it in the playoffs right now,” Dyck said.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Giants lose to Kamloops in Game 1 of series

The teams will play game five in Kamloops on Friday, May 13, and if necessary, game six would be back at Langley Events Centre on Sunday, May 15, with a 4 p.m. puck drop.

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