RECAP: Chiefs 5 – Giants 0 (January 24, 2018)
Wednesday night at the Langley Events Centre the Vancouver Giants dropped a 5-0 decision to the Spokane Chiefs. Edmonton Oilers prospect Kailer Yamamoto scored twice for the visitors while Carolina Hurricanes draft-pick Hudson Elynuik chimed in with a goal and two assists for the Chiefs who have now won four straight games. Between the pipes Dawson Weatherill stopped all 31 shots he faced for the Chiefs while the duo of David Tendeck and Trent Miner made 37 saves on 42 shots faced for Vancouver.
Just a minute and three seconds into the first, Spokane jumped out in front when 20-year-old Zach Fischer banked home his 21st of the season from behind the Giants goal. The score remained 1-0 through 20 minutes. Vancouver outshot Spokane 15-9 and were aided by three power play attempts.
59 seconds into the second period the Chiefs doubled their lead when Kailer Yamamoto potted his first of two goals on the night from in close on an unassisted play. He’d then strike again two minutes and 11 seconds later at the 3:10 mark on a shorthanded two-on-one feed from Hudson Elynuik to make the score 3-0.
Rookie Luke Toporowski extended the Chiefs lead to 4-0 at 11:29 when he snuck in close, took a pass from Milos Fafrak and roofed one over David Tendeck’s right shoulder for his fourth of the season. Spokane outshot the Giants 18-8 in period two and led 4-0 after 40 minutes.
The positive story in the third period for Vancouver was rookie goaltender Trent Miner who relieved David Tendeck to start the third and turned aside 14 of the 15 shots fired his way in his WHL debut. Many of Spokane’s chances were point-blank and difficult. The only puck that got by the Brandon, MB native came via Hudson Elynuik at 4:15 off a play in close that deflected off Elynuik’s skate.
Spokane outshot the Giants 15-8 in the final period en route to the 5-0 victory. Both teams finished the game zero-for-six on the power play but the Chiefs did strike once shorthanded. The victory improved their record to 26-19-1-2.
With the loss, the Giants are now 1-2-0-1 on their home stand and 25-16-4-3 on the season. Fortunately the Giants still remain just one point shy of Victoria for second place in the B.C. Division standings, and have the chance to leapfrog them when they host the Royals on Friday at 7:30 PM at the Langley Events Centre.