The Brandon Wheat Kings handed the visiting Vancouver Giants their first regulation-time loss of the season on Tuesday night, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to run away with an 8-3 victory.
Here’s what coach Lorne Molleken told the Brandon Sun:
“They’ve got a tremendous team and obviously they play a real strong team game. They come at you with speed and they generate some chances. We made some mistakes tonight and they took advantage of it so full credit to them.”
The Giants (3-1-0-1) return to action tonight, visiting the Moose Jaw Warriors (2-0-1-0) in a 6 p.m. start. You can check out the game on the web at TSN 1040’s web site.
Carter Popoff had two goals in the losing effort in Brandon, while Clayton Kirichenko added the other and also helped set up one of Popoff’s goals. He has one goal and five assists in five games; he had four goals and nine assists in 48 games with Vancouver last season.
Kirichenko is second on the team in points, behind Popoff, who has three goals and five assists.
Jace Hawryluk had one goal and four assists for Brandon, who threw 43 shots at Vancouver goaltender Ryan Kubic, who went the distance in his first start of the season. Vancouver continues to carry three goalies, with Kubic, a 17-year-old rookie, joined by incumbents Payton Lee and Cody Porter.
Lee, who started the first three games of the season, is expected to get the call versus Moose Jaw.
Jackson Houck and Radovan Bondra were both minus-four against the Wheat Kings, while fellow forward Alec Baer was minus-three.
The Giants are in Regina on Friday and Swift Current on Saturday before heading home. They’re next game at the Pacific Coliseum is Oct. 16, when the Tri-City Americans come to town.
