After a weekend of points in Saskatchewan, the Winnipeg ICE have now dropped two straight games, both on home ice.
The club has also been shut out twice in a row as the Vancouver Giants scored two first period goals, beating Winnipeg 4-0 at the Wayne Fleming Arena on Saturday night.
Just like Friday, Winnipeg outshot their opponent (36-30), but they ran into another hot goaltender as David Tendeck couldn’t be beat.
“I liked our start, I thought we were getting pucks through, and we created good chances,” said head coach James Patrick to winnipegice.ca after the game. “We just had some breakdowns that cost us those four goals.”
Starting in net, Gage Alexander was a busy man in the first as he faced 16 shots.
Opening up the scoring with his fifth of the season at the 8:46 mark was Milos Roman. Jacob Gendron and Justin Sourdif notched the assists.
The remainder of the night was one of firsts.
Less than two minutes later, Justin Lies scored his first goal of the season at the 10:15 mark. Jackson Shepard had the lone assist.
Already up 2-0 going into the second, Vancouver, who was blanked on Friday scored again.
This goal was in a hurry, in fact. Just 21 seconds into the period, it was Evan Patrician’s turn to score his first of the season with Shepard getting the lone assist.
Vancouver only had six shots in the second, one of which was Patrician’s goal.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, had 15 shots in the second, but they couldn’t beat Tendeck.
Late in the third, a man who’s expected to do big things in the NHL officially sealed this game, although it really already had been.
15:33 into the final period, Bowen Byram scored his first of the season. The power-play goal was assisted by Dylan Plouffe and Tristen Nielsen.
Winnipeg once again outshot Vancouver in the third 10-8, but they couldn’t solve the hot play of Tendeck.
Winnipeg has now dropped to 3-3-1. Vancouver, meanwhile, is 4-3.
“We were competing hard and getting shots on net, but we just didn’t get any bounces tonight,” said Winnipeg native Mike Ladyman after the game.
Ladyman also commented on the team’s breakdowns defensively.
”We know we’re not going to be perfect, but we have to bare down, and if a guy makes a mistake, we have to be back to cover him,” offered Ladyman.
Winnipeg now gets a few days off to practice and prepare for another road trip. They’re in Swift Current and Medicine Hat next weekend. Make sure to come back on Tuesday where I’ll take a look at next weekend’s games.
Vancouver continues their seven-game road trip on Tuesday in Prince Albert.
ICE CHIPS:
- 10 players were a minus for Winnipeg. On the other side, 13 players were a plus for Vancouver.
- Vancouver finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play, and they won the battle on the faceoff dot 31-26.
- Winnipeg had a ton of chances on the man advantage but went 0-for-7.
- Justin Lies, who is only 15, scored his first ever Western Hockey League goal. Fun fact: he’s from Flin Flon, Manitoba, where the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Bombers play.
