Vancouver Giants ended their regular season with an overtime loss to the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night at Langley Events Centre on Fan Appreciation Night.
Kamloops took a 1-0 lead late in the first and extended it to 2-0 early in the second. Vancouver cut into the lead with a goal from Ethan Mittelsteadt at the 6:41 mark of the second period and then got the tying goal from Joe Iginla late in the middle frame. Vancouver took their first lead of the game with a goal from Mathis Preston midway through the third, before Kamloops responded with a goal just a minute later to send the game into overtime tied at 3-3. The Blazers then won the game with a goal just 15 seconds into overtime.
Vancouver finishes the season at the bottom of the 12-team western conference with a record of 25-39-2-2 (54 points), while No. 5-ranked Kamloops has clinched a spot in the playoffs with 75 points thanks to a record of 31-24-7-6.
Mittelsteadt, Iginla and Preston were the goal scorers for Vancouver.
Lafreniere found the back of the net twice for Kamloops, while Evaschesen and Thomson also tallied goals for the Blazers.
Kamloops opened the games scoring on the power play when JP Hurlbert sent a cross-ice pass to Tommy Lafreniere who sniped a one-timer home to give the Blazers the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Blazers added in the early second when Lafreniere sent a backhand pass to Josh Evaschesen who made a move and buried the pick to take the 2-0 lead.
Mittelsteadt got Vancouver on the board when he made a move past one defender and sniped a one-timer from the slot to make it 2-1.
The Giants tied the game near the end of the second period when Holowaychuk made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Iginla who notched it top shelf to make it 2-2 entering the final frame.
Preston got the Giants the 3-2 lead in the third period when he got his 18th goal of the season with a one-timer from the face-off dot.
The Blazers responded just a minute later when Harrison Brunicke sent a backhand to Andrew Thomson in the slot who buried it into the open net.
Kamloops then won the game 4-3 with an overtime winner just 15 seconds in when Lafreniere tipped the puck in the back of the net after a give and go with Jordan Keller.
All three stars of the game were Giants: First, Kelton Pyne – 28 Saves on 32 Shots, second, Ethan Mittelsteadt – 1G, 2 SOG and third, Misha Volotovskii.