Vancouver Giants edged out the Kamloops Blazers on the road on Saturday night, winning 5-4 in overtime thanks to a goal from Ty Halaburda.
Kelton Pyne had a standout performance in net for Vancouver, finishing the night with a career-high 45 saves.
Giants jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to surrender four consecutive goals to Kamloops. Vancouver battled back to make it 4-4 after 40 minutes of play.
Halaburda netted his ninth goal of the season off a pass from Cameron Schmidt to end the game 3:45 into the extra frame. Schmidt also scored twice in regulation, extending his point streak to six games (7G-6A). Leonardo Domenichelli netted his first career WHL goal and Brett Olson also scored for the Giants. Luca Pura picked up his first career WHL point with a primary assist on Olson’s goal.
Gants Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson said the players showed resilience and called Pyne ” just incredible.”
“It’s something we’ve preached from day one and [Head Coach] Parker [Burgess] has had that message: resiliency and be brave in those moments…they get four straight and then us sticking with it and showing resiliency to stick to our game. Having a troubled second, but then coming out solid in the third and sticking to our game. At the end of the day, it is just being brave and making those big plays in big moments.”
Schmidt opened the scoring early in the first on a power play when he beat Ivans Kufterins high on the glove side.
Olson added to the Giants lead on a 2-on-1 after Pura made a cross-ice pass to him, which he then roofed for his third of the season.
Keller got the Blazers on the board late in the first on a tap-in to make it 2-1 Vancouver after 20 minutes.
Keller added two more in the second to complete the natural hat-trick, making the score 3-2 for Kamloops at the 9:03 mark of the middle period.
Eveschesen extended the Blazers lead to 4-2 with a power play marker just 92 seconds later.
Before the second period came to a close, the Giants tied things up.
Schmidt notched his second of the night on a 5-on-3 power play, sniping from ‘his office’ in the right circle.
Then Domenichelli tied the contest 4-4 when he beat Kufterins on the blocker side on a 2-on-1 rush coming down the right wing.
Neither side could score in the third period, leading to the Giants third overtime game of the season.
Pyne made back-to-back post-to-post saves within a matter of seconds to keep the Giants alive, which also led to Schmidt setting up Halaburda for the game-winner.
Next, Giants host the Blazers at Langley Events Centre today, Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.