Everett Silvertips forward Dario Winkler was whistled at 18:06 of the third period for tripping Vancouver Giants defenceman Tyler Brown, but the Giants couldn’t capitalize on the late power play and ended up falling 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum Friday night.
Vancouver (17-22-3-2) is back in action on Saturday with a 5 p.m. start against the Prince George Cougars (26-16-1-1) at the Coliseum.
The Giants are six points behind the Spokane Chiefs (20-18-3-2) and seven in back of the Portland Winterhawks (22-19-2-0) for the eighth and seventh playoff positions, respectively, in the WHL’s Western Conference.
The WInterhawks and Chiefs have a game in hand on the Giants.
The Silvertips (25-12-2-2) picked up the eventual winner on Friday from Connor Dewar at 7:08 of the second period, off a set-up from Winkler. It was Dewar’s fifth of the season
Vancouver had assorted chances to tie it up after that. Jack Flaman went high and wide on a breakaway with 9:54 remaining. Chase Lang hit the outside of the post with 8:04 left. Everett goalie Carter Hart stood his ground to thwart Ty Ronning from the slot with 7:44 to play.
Hart ended up stopping 21 shots. Ryan Kubic made 19 saves in the Vancouver net.
Dmitry Osipov, with his second of the season, and Alec Baer, with his 15th, tallied for Vancouver before the announced crowd of 4,722.
Remi Laurencelle, with his 25th, and, Patrick Bajkov, with his 10th, scored the earlier goals for Everett.
Vancouver’s power play went 0-for-3. Everett’s was 0-for-2.
Here’s what Giants coach Lorne Molleken had to say.
“The biggest thing, I think, is that we wanted to play four lines tonight and we didn’t get an effort from everyone. As a result some guys had to sit a bit.”
“They’re a good team. I was proud of the way the guys worked to draw the penalties that we created.”
“Our power play had been so good coming into this game. If it clicks tonight, it could have been the difference.”
“You have to battle for every inch out there. I thought we had some players that did and some players that didn’t.”
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