Vancouver Giants Start Season with a 5-3 Win in Prince George
September 21, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release
Vancouver Giants defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert vs. the Prince George Cougars
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Brett Cullen)
Vancouver, B.C. - Friday night at the CN Centre in Prince George, B.C. the Vancouver Giants kicked off the 2019-20 season with a 5-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars. Five different skaters supplied the goals for the Giants while Trent Miner turned aside 20 of the 23 shots fired his way in net. The Giants power play went two-for-three while the penalty kill went six-for-seven. Both Owen Hardy (two assists) and Seth Bafaro (one goal, one assist) had multi-point games for Vancouver. Tyson Upper had two goals in response for Prince George.
1st Period:
VAN - Tristen Nielsen opened the scoring at 4:48. He snuck a low shot through the pads of Taylor Gauthier from the left-wing beside the goal. Owen Hardy and Seth Bafaro assisted.
VAN - Seth Bafaro extended Vancouver's lead on a power play at 15:20. His shot from the right-wing point snuck through traffic and home. Dylan Plouffe and Owen Hardy both drew helpers.
PG - 51 seconds later Cole Moberg responded for the Cougars when he capitalized off a three-way passing play with Ryan Schoettler and Josh Maser. Moberg's marker came on a power play.
Shots: 13-6 Vancouver
2nd Period:
VAN - Lukas Svejkovsky extended the Giants lead to 3-1 when he wired a shot past Taylor Gauthier's blocker off a two-on-one rush. His goal came at 10:50 and was unassisted.
PG - Tyson Upper moved Prince George back within one at 16:36 off a shot from above the left-wing circle. Goaltender Taylor Gauthier had one of the assists.
PG - Upper struck again with 11 seconds left in the period off a deflection from the left-wing beside the Giants goal.
Shots: 8-6 Prince George
3rd Period:
VAN - Justin Sourdif gave the Giants their final lead of the night on a gorgeous end-to-end rush on a power play at 4:56. Goaltender Trent Miner drew the lone assist.
VAN - Jackson Shepard provided the Giants with some insurance at 18:53. Shepard converted into an empty net off a breakaway feed from Milos Roman to secure his first goal as a Giant.
Shots: 10-9 Vancouver
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GAME SUMMARY
Final Score: Vancouver 5 - Prince George 3
Final Shots: 29-23 Vancouver
Trent Miner: 20/23 saves for Vancouver (1-0)
Taylor Gauthier: 24/28 saves for Prince George (0-1)
Vancouver: 2/3 on Power Play
Prince George: 1/7 on Power Play
3 Stars:
Tyson Upper (PG - 2G)
Tristen Nielsen (VAN - 1G)
Lukas Svejkovsky (VAN - 1G)
Next Game: The Giants and Prince George Cougars will meet once again tomorrow night at 7:00 PM.
NOTES:
Eight Giants recorded at least one point in Friday's victory.
Tristen Nielsen led all Giants with five shots on goal.
Trent Miner improved his record to 5-0 lifetime against Prince George.
Both of the game's goaltenders: Trent Miner and Taylor Gauthier recorded assists in the game.
The Giants are now 4-1-0-1 lifetime when starting their season on the road.
Jacob Gendron, John Little and Justin Lies all played in their first career WHL games for Vancouver.
Images from this story
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