It was a tight game for 40 minutes with much credit to Tri-City netminder Ryan Grout making some great stops along the way, but a three-goal outburst in the third period lifted the Vancouver Giants past the Tri-City Americans 4-2. Tri-City are now tied for the longest losing streak in team history.
First Period
Things got off to a physical start as Jaxen Adam fell on top of a Vancouver player in the Tri-City zone, gave him a few extra shoves, and attempted to drop the gloves before officials stepped in. Adam was assessed a roughing penalty for the unnecessary behavior.
It wasn’t the start Tri-City wanted, but their penalty kill stood tall to avoid an early deficit. Ryan Grout made a few tough saves through traffic to keep the game scoreless.
Vancouver opened the scoring shortly after the power play expired.
A long shot from Giants defenseman Kaleb Hartmann at the left point was tipped by Jakob Oreksovic on its way to the net and in. Oreksovic has been one of Vancouver’s better players in the season series against Tri-City, now recording four points in four games against the Americans, including his first goal.
Late in the first, Tri-City answered thanks to a slick give-and-go play.
Gavin Garland dropped it to Grady Martin at the point, who quickly sauced it back to Garland in the low slot. Garland drove the net on his backhand and found a spot over the shoulder of Giants goaltender Kelton Pyne to tie the game.
Vancouver nearly regained the lead when Ryan Lin, the Giants captain and a top prospect in the upcoming NHL Draft, intercepted a pass and found himself alone in front. Grout responded with a stellar blocker save. Lin had a second opportunity on the rebound but slid it through the crease, just inches wide.
After one, the game was tied 1-1. Tri-City’s power play struggles continued, going 0-for-2 in the period despite coming close to scoring. Shots were 9-6 Vancouver, and the Americans looked to build momentum in the second period.
Second Period
The second picked up with end-to-end action.
Kelton Pyne made the save of the night just before the first media timeout, robbing Jake Gudelj with a highlight-reel blocker stop to keep the game tied. Gudelj had received a feed in the left circle unmarked and quickly fired a wrist shot, but Pyne stretched across to get a piece. Gudelj smacked his stick in frustration.
Shortly after Tri-City’s third power play of the night, Vancouver earned a clear-cut breakaway but shot the puck over the net, failing to register a shot. It was their second missed breakaway of the game.
On the Giants’ second power play, Ryan Lin sliced through the Tri-City defense and went in alone. Lin tried to go backhand but was denied by Grout’s outstretched pad as Grout was doing everything he could to keep this game tied.
Tri-City got into some deep penalty trouble when Jaxen Adam was called for slashing Lin on his burst to the net, giving Vancouver a 5-on-3 advantage for 50 seconds.
Overager Jake Gudelj responded with a hard-working effort. After a Tri-City clear, he chased the puck into the Vancouver zone and drew a slashing penalty from defenseman Will Sharpe, nullifying the remaining 46 seconds of the Giants’ power play and creating four-on-four play before giving Tri-City a brief power play of 1:14.
As that power play expired, Vancouver attempted a quick line change. Grout played the puck ahead to Cruz Pavao, and Tri-City appeared to have a potential three-on-one, possibly even four-on-one rush. But, before anything developed, the Americans were whistled for offside, and there was a large groan from the Tri-City bench.
Despite all the action, the second period produced no goals. Tri-City managed just three shots in the entire period and would need more urgency heading into the third.
Third Period
In the third, the floodgates opened.
Midway through the period, Vancouver suddenly erupted with two goals in under two minutes.
Ryan Lin struck first, picking his spot through traffic from the slot. With bodies screening him, Grout had little chance as the puck found its way past him to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead.
Just over a minute later, Ethan Middlestead doubled the advantage. Left unmarked at the left circle, Middlestead pleaded for the puck and buried a glove-side shot to make it 3-1 and completely crushing Tri-City.
Grout kept Tri-City within reach momentarily with a spectacular backdoor splits save, arguably his best of the night, but the pressure continued.
Kaleb Hartmann sealed the game soon after, sliding another shot past Grout to make it 4-1.
With just 20 seconds remaining, rookie Alexander Laing scored his fifth of the season on the power play, snapping Tri-City’s 0-for-28 drought with the man advantage and completing the 4-2 final in garbage time.
After the game, Tri-City Head Coach Jody Hull addressed the third-period collapse:
“It was honestly kind of brewing all night. We didn’t manage pucks at the right times, and the hardest part is when you’re in these streaks, it feels like all you’re doing is chasing the game. And when you’re chasing the game, you’ve got to be that much more precise with your execution, and this game just got away from us.”
Postgame / What’s Next
Tri-City’s struggles have now reached 12 consecutive losses, nearing a franchise-worst mark, and it couldn’t come at a worse time with just nine games remaining in the regular season.
Statistically, it was another tough night. The Americans were outshot 26-16 by the Western Conference’s last-place team and failed to record more than 10 shots in any period. They also managed only three shots combined across seven power plays before Laing’s late tally.
Hull emphasized Grout’s effort postgame and went over what he thought of the game:
“I think for two periods, Ryan Grout was giving us a chance to play, a chance to win a hockey game. Unfortunately, I think that the guys playing in front of him didn’t have a lot of desperation in their game, and it caught up to us in the third period.”
Tri-City now faces a crucial home-and-home series against the Seattle Thunderbirds this weekend, who sit three points ahead in the standings. It shapes up as the biggest two games of the season, if they lose both, playoffs are almost certainly out of the question.
Hull’s message to his team moving forward in the final 9 games was clear:
“You’ve got to show up and play. At the end of the day you’re playing for the crest, that was my message to the guys. You can’t decide to wait until next year to play. You still have games this year, and how guys play down the stretch is going to dictate where they are in the pecking order moving forward.”
