Burke Hood had a standout game in the Vancouver Giants crease with 40 saves, including 17 in the first period alone, but it was the Spokane Chiefs who won a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Numerica Veterans Arena on Friday.
Giants had a very slow start, but earned their way back to a 2-2 tie midway through the third. Several minutes later, Spokane’s Mathis Preston scored his 14th goal of the season on a wrist shot from the high slot with traffic in front to give the home side the two points.
After what Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson described as a ‘little bit flat” effort in the first, Giants picked up the pace.
“We just started working a little bit harder, moving our feet a bit more, wanting the puck in certain areas and just getting open for each other and then making winning decisions in the second,” Patterson said.
“The urgency that we had in the second and the third we can be proud of, but at the end of the day we need points right now. We have to play a full 60 minute effort like that to give us the best chance to get those points.
The Giants fall to 16-21-1-1 following the loss, while the Chiefs improve to 19-18-0-0.
Colton Gerrior and Leonardo Domenichelli each scored for the Giants. Cameron Schmidt registered an assist to increase his point streak to 19 games (13G-17A-30P). Tyus Sparks also had an assist to increase his point streak to seven games (6G-6A-12P).
Preston and Chase Harrington each registered a goal and an assist for Spokane, while Nathan Mayes had the other Chiefs goal.
Giants surrendered nine shots on goal in the first several minutes while only mustering up two of their own.
Mayes eventually broke the ice midway through the opening frame on a goal off the rush coming down the left wing.
After 20 minutes, the score was 1-0 for Spokane, who had a commanding 18-3 lead in shots on goal.
The Giants responded with a strong second period, getting the equalizer on a 5-on-4 power play at the 7:11 mark of the frame when Sparks spotted Gerrior in front of the net for a redirect.
The Chiefs re-took the lead just 1:27 later with Harrington took the puck from Preston high in the offensive zone and had room to move into the right circle, where he rifled a shot top corner on the short side to make it 2-1.
Vancouver came out strong in the third and were eventually rewarded for their hard work, when Torretto Marrelli spotted Domenichelli at the edge of the slot, who quickly snapped a shot past Esler’s blocker to tie the game 2-2.
With less than three minutes remaining in the third period, Preston circled high in the Giants zone and let a wrist shot go through traffic that somehow found the top corner, which stood up as the game-winner.