The Vancouver Giants are one win away from facing the winner of the Kamloops versus Victoria series in the second round, thanks to Friday’s 3-2 win over Seattle to take a 3-2 series lead.
Dylan Plouffe and Jadon Joseph both scored their fourth goals of the series and Dallas Hines his second of the series which was also the game winner.
This game had playoffs written all over it, starting with the physicality, the pace, the crowd and the cowbells. 4627 raucous fans gathered to watch Game 5, the largest crowd at the Langley Events Centre this season, which ended up being the most exciting game of the series.
The excitement started with a disallowed goal from Owen Hardy that was later figured out to have never crossed the goal line on an ensuing Thunderbirds penalty.
Not long after, the Giants got one for real with 19-year-old defenceman Dylan Plouffe snapping one over the glove of Roddy Ross while rushing up the ice on the left wing, even potentially catching Ross off guard to open the scoring for Game 5.
Vancouver got their power play working early when Seattle took a Too Many Men penalty, the fourth of the series between both teams combined. Joseph redirected a Milos Roman shot for his fourth goal in the five games of this series to make it 2-0 at just past the midway mark of the first period.
In a night where officiating was busy throughout the game that saw nine powerplays given out between the two teams, the Thunderbirds scored both of their Game 5 goals on the man advantage.
It started with Giants captain Jared Dmytriw taking a slashing penalty that was retaliatory to getting roughed so much that his helmet was missing. Seattle went onto score just 11 seconds into the powerplay off the stick of leading scorer Matthew Wedman to cut the lead in half after 20 minutes.
“In the second period we took two reactionary penalties and we know better than that, we just got caught up in it.” said Head Coach Michael Dyck about the Giants getting caught retaliating.
The second best penalty kill during the regular season in Vancouver has allowed seven power-play goals in the five games this series, something the team knows they need to work on.
“I think our PK got better as the game went on, but we need to stay out of the penalty box. We’ve given them too many opportunities. Their powerplay is clicking right now, we got to do a better job of making sure the puck goes down 200 feet.”
2019 NHL Draft prospect Bowen Byram also had similar things to say regarding the penalty kill.
“Honestly I think they’re getting some lucky bounces right now, first one today kind of bounces around a bit then lands on Wedman’s stick and in the back of the net. But it’s not good enough right now, its something we’re keen on, we need the PK to come up big in Game 6 in order to win.“
Both teams came out of their tunnels ready to go, maybe even a little too aggressive for the Giants’ Kaleb Bulych who took a cross checking penalty three minutes in, which led to Seattle’s Noah Philp one timing the puck from the faceoff dot past a sliding Trent Miner to knot the game up at two goals a piece.
The latter half of the second period saw the Giants keep lots of pressure on Seattle’s defence, who was still without Cade McNelly as he was serving the second game since being suspended after Game 3 for his actions, peppering Ross with constant shots and having quality scoring opportunities. The rookie netminder stood tall during the flurry of shots to keep the game tied going into the third.
The game winning goal came within the first five minutes of the final period with Byram dancing around the offensive zone on a delayed penalty, showing his skill and offensive ability that led to Dallas Hines finishing off the play.
“It was a delayed penalty, you can pretty much do whatever you want because when you touch it the whistle goes, I just walked the line and tried to get the puck on net and then Hines was there to put it in.”
Seattle did not go down without a fight as the clock was running out, making the Giants work for every second of the win. With an extra attacker with Ross out of the net, the Thunderbirds were playing it like their power play that was successful throughout the game.
The biggest difference at the end was Vancouver clogging up the shooting lanes and laying their bodies on the line to make sure they were heading down to Seattle to clinch the series. Skilled players like Davis Koch and Milos Roman throwing their bodies in front of shots is huge to see out of guys that aren’t necessarily known for having that in their game. But Coach Dyck said that’s just playoff hockey.
“It’s what we got to do, that’s playoff hockey. It’s all about blocking shots, taking hits to make plays, being physical and getting to hard areas. There’s not much time and space out there so it’s going to be those kind of games we see from here on out.“
Game 6 goes Saturday night south of the border at 6:05 PST with Vancouver trying to close out the series, something they weren’t able to do last year against Victoria heading into Game 6.
“We had the chance to close it out last year but couldn’t get the job done. I think we all learned that it’s definitely the hardest to close a team out, so hopefully we can do that tomorrow.” said Byram about being in the same position in last season’s first round.
Giant Thoughts
- Giants forward Justin Sourdif missed his fourth straight game since being cross checked by Seattle’s Jake Lee.
- Aidan Barfoot was also out of the lineup as a result of being hit from behind by Seattle’s Sean Richards in Game 4. Richards was suspended indefinitely by the league for the hit.
- 2018 first round pick Zack Ostapchuk drew into the lineup with the absences of Barfoot and Sourdif, getting into his first career playoff game.
- Dylan Plouffe (4G, 3A) and Davis Koch (1G, 6A) are tied for the league lead in points in the playoffs with seven in five games.
