Giants Surrender Pair of Late Goals to Cougars; Fall 6-5

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 Vancouver Giants

Giants Surrender Pair of Late Goals to Cougars; Fall 6-5

January 9, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants goaltender Brady Smith vs. the Prince George Cougars
Vancouver Giants goaltender Brady Smith vs. the Prince George Cougars
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: James Doyle)

Prince George, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants dropped a tough game on Wednesday night to the Prince George Cougars, blowing a 5-4 lead in the final minutes to lose 6-5 in regulation.

The loss drops Vancouver's record this season to 19-16-4, while the Cougars improve to 24-10-3-2.

The Giants were tied 1-1 after 20 and 3-3 after 40, before grabbing a 5-4 lead 6:40 into period three. Prince George tied the game with under two minutes left on a 6-on-4 power play and then scored the game-winner with only 43 seconds remaining.

Maxim Muranov (9th, 10th) scored a pair of goals in his Giants debut, while Tyus Sparks (5th), Mazden Leslie (8th) and Jaden Lipinski (7th) also found the back of the net.

Viliam Kmec (8th, 9th) struck twice for Prince George, with Riley Heidt (20th), Corbin Vaughan (1st), Terik Parascak (18th) and Ben Riche (24th) each scoring as well.

Sparks opened the scoring for the G-Men less than three minutes in when he put home a rebound from right in front.

Kmec would tie it on an individual effort off the rush, as he drove wide and was able to get to the net and chip home the equalizer.

Leslie gave the Giants a 2-1 lead with a one-timer on a 4-on-3 power play early in period two, but the Cougars would respond with a pair of goals of their own. Heidt redirected in the tying goal of a hard pass from Koehn Ziemmer, and then Vaughan made it 3-2 for Prince George with a one-time blast at the 16:21 mark of period two.

The Giants got a quick response from Muranov, who tied it off a faceoff with a low shot through the five-hole of Ravensbergen, making it 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Kmec put Prince George back in front just 29 seconds into the third period, but yet again Vancouver was quick to equalize with Cameron Schmidt finding Lipinski in the slot 51 seconds later, who made no mistake to tie the contest 4-4.

Muranov scored his second of the night from the bottom of the left circle moments after Jakob Oreskovic hit the crossbar to restore the Giants lead at 5-4.

The Giants would then be called for slashing with only 1:57 remaining in the game, setting up a 6-on-4 power play where Valis set up Parascak in front to tie the game 14 seconds into the man advantage.

In the final minute, Ben Riche stole the puck as the Giants were breaking up ice and quickly spun and fired a low shot that found the back of the net, making it a 6-5 final score.

THEY SAID IT

"That one hurts tonight for sure just with how it finished off. It's tough to swallow to be honest because there's lots of really good moments in that game and unfortunately we gave up a lead in the third and gave up the game-winning-goal with 30 seconds or whatever was left and the game's done...We liked our demeanour, our approach tonight for the most part. It's good to see the guys rally back and get that lead and give us a chance to win, but at the end of the day, we fell short here."" - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall

"[Muranov] was really good tonight. He's a big, heavy body., He's really good around the net, you saw that on his second goal. He gets to hard areas. Really liked his game tonight." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on Muranov's Giants debut

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 13/11/7 = 31 | PG - 11/12/11 = 34

PP: VAN- 1/3 | PG - 1/5

Face-Offs: VAN - 37 | PG - 38

3 STARS

1st: PG - Ben Riche - GWG, 3 SOG

2nd: PG - Viliam Kmec - 2G, 3 SOG, +2

3rd: VAN - Maxim Muranov - 2G, 3 SOG, +1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS - Brady Smith (28 saves / 34 shots)

Prince George: WIN - Joshua Ravensbergen (26 saves / 31 shots)

UPCOMING

Date Opponent Time Location

Friday, January 10 Kamloops 7:00 PM PST Sandman Centre

Saturday, January 11 Kelowna 7:00 PM PST Langley Events Centre

Friday, January 17 Tri-City 7:00 PM PST Langley Events Centre





Images from this story

Vancouver Giants shoot against the Prince George Cougars
Vancouver Giants shoot against the Prince George Cougars

(James Doyle)
Vancouver Giants left wing Maxim Muranov
Vancouver Giants left wing Maxim Muranov

(James Doyle)
Vancouver Giants gather following a score
Vancouver Giants gather following a score

(James Doyle)
Vancouver Giants right wing Connor Levis (left) vs. the Prince George Cougars
Vancouver Giants right wing Connor Levis (left) vs. the Prince George Cougars

(James Doyle)
Vancouver Giants goaltender Brady Smith vs. the Prince George Cougars
Vancouver Giants goaltender Brady Smith vs. the Prince George Cougars

(James Doyle)
 

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