Blazers 4, Giants 2: Kamloops has Vancouver on ropes with win

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Logan Stankoven entered Thursday staring at the possibility of going four straight games without a goal for the first time all season.

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He quashed that in thrilling fashion.

The Kamloops Blazers’ star scored a power-play goal with 2:37 remaining and the Blazers scored a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Giants before a crowd of 4,110 at the Langley Events Centre. Stankoven added an empty net goal after that for his ninth goal of the playoffs.

Alex Cotton had tripped up Stankoven on a breakaway to lead the power play.

Stankoven had 45 goals in the regular season.

NEXT GAME

Friday: Game 5

Vancouver Giants vs. Kamloops Blazers

(Kamloops leads best-of-seven series 3-1)

7 pm, Sandman Centre. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

Kamloops leads the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals 3-1. Game 5 is Friday (7 pm) at the Sandman Center in Kamloops. Both the Giants and Blazers left for Kamloops after the game.

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Game 6, if necessary, would be Sunday (4 pm) at the LEC.

The Blazers (48-17-3-0) are the No. 2 seeds and they finished 46 points ahead of the No. 8 Giants (24-39-5-0). Vancouver upset the No. 1 Everett Silvertips in the first round.

Zack Ostapchuk had two goals for Vancouver. His usual linemates Fabian Lysell and Adam Hall had two and one assist, respectively.

Luke Toporowski and Caedan Bankier scored for Kamloops.

Dylan Garand made 18 saves for the Blazers. Jesper Vikman turned away 18 for Vancouver.

Shepard suits up

Winger Cole Shepard, who hadn’t suited up for a game for Vancouver since March 16, was in the lineup Thursday after being listed as a game-time decision for the warm-up. Shepard’s a speedster who has seen top-six ice time when he’s been healthy over his two seasons with the Giants. He had seven goals and 20 points in 28 games this season.

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He had practiced with the team various times since his injury. Vancouver didn’t have a full practice on Wednesday, though.

He’s been listed as sidelined with a lower body injury. Giants general manager Barclay Parneta has said that it’s not an issue with his hips from him, but he wouldn’t elaborate further. Shepard, who turned 20 in February, missed the entire 2020-21 hub season due to hip surgery and then started late this season because of that as well.

Shepard began Thursday playing with Sammy May and Julian Cull, who had both received fourth-line minutes in Game 3. They played a regular shift in the first period Thursday and Shepard’s ice time grew as the game wore on. The WHL doesn’t published ice time stats like the NHL does, but it was easy to guess that Shepard probably played at least 16-18 minutes,

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Vancouver scratches for Game 4 included defenseman Mazden Leslie (lower body injury) and winger Colton Langkow (lower body injury), who both left Game 1 early. Vancouver had 10 scratches, including two extra goaltenders.

mind games

The matchup mind games between Giants coach Michael Dyck and his Kamloops counterpart Shaun Clouston started immediately. Dyck, who had broken up the top line of Ostapchuk, Lysell and Hall for much of Game 3, had the trio out for the opening face-off Thursday. Dyck immediately double shifted Lysell, having him stay out for the second shift with his Game 3 linemates Ty Thorpe and Kyle Bochek.

Three minutes into the period, Dyck went back to Ostapchuk, Lysell and Hall for a shift. They were together for Vancouver’s first goal, too, when Lysell sent Ostapchuk off on a breakaway after a turnover at the Vancouver blue line and Ostapchuk held off Kamloops defender Ethan Brandwood before deking to the forehand and beating Garand at 17:42.

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Ostapchuk and Hall did play the majority of the period with Ethan Semeniuk on their right side, while Lysell was mostly with Thorpe and Bochek.

In the second period, Dyck had Ostapchuk, Lysell and Hall together and Semeniuk, Thorpe and Shepard going as a trio. The Ostapchuk line was together for the third, and Thorpe and Shepard played usually with Justin Lies in the frame.

Those lines were also together for a third period, although Justin Lies did see time with Thorpe and Shepard as well.

Clouston has seemed to want to have his veteran defensive pairing of Brandwood and Quinn Schmiemann out against Ostapchuk, Lysell and Hall. In Game 3, he usually had Brandwood and Schmiemann out against Lysell, Thorpe and Bochek.

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Bublé lenses his voice

The Giants had Brett Festerling, the former Vancouver rearguard who was the captain of their 2007 Memorial Cup winning team, rev up the rally siren as part of the pre-game festivities, and had singer Michael Bublé as his hype man, egging the crowd on .

Buble has an ownership stake in the club and is routinely at Giants games.

Festerling, 36, is back in the Lower Mainland, working for an asset management company after a 13-year pro career that included four NHL seasons. Dyck had him on the ice for a handful of practices this season, helping out with the defencemen.

Public address announcer Brook Ward reported to the LEC faithful earlier in the second period that the Tampa Bay Lightning had beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime received a spirited cheer.

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