Braydon Riggall scored his first career WHL goal for Vancouver, the only goal for the Giants in a 6-1 loss to the Spokane Chiefs Friday on the road.
The game was much closer than the final score suggested: the Giants cut a 3-0 second period deficit to 3-1 before Spokane added two empty net goals and then scored their sixth with just 31 seconds left in regulation.
After Spokane scored one in the first and two in the second, Riggall scored Vancouver’s lone goal at the 6:03 mark of the second period, firing a wrist shot off an offensive zone face-off to make the score 3-1.
Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson thought for the most part, Vancouver played a good game, but not on the power play.
“We stuck to the systems,” Patterson said.
“Unfortunate that we let one in on the penalty kill and then they got one just following that in the second. But we set ourselves up [after that]. We get a goal back, it’s 3-1, five minutes left they get a five minute penalty and then they get another [penalty] and we have an extended 5-on-3 there. Those are the moments where we need guys to execute and step up, and we didn’t tonight.”
“It’s an opportunity for other guys to step up. You need poise and you need skill on the power play, but the urgency to get to the inside and get in front of the net and just get pucks there and get hungry and execute ultimately is something that obviously needs to improve for this group.”
Vancouver falls to 20-33-1-2 (43 points), at the bottom of the 12-team Western Conference, while Spokane improves to 28-26-1-0 (57 points) in sixth place.
Next, Giants host Portland Winterhawks on Saturday at Langley Events centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.