Vancouver Giants give best effort in weeks but lose fifth in a row with setback to Kamloops Blazers

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The Vancouver Giants lost their fifth in a row but came up with their best effort in several outings in a 3-2 setback to the Kamloops Blazers Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

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Fraser Minten bagged the winner for the Blazers at the 13:05 mark of the third period, flashing through the slot and converting a feed off the back wall from Matthew Seminoff while the Giants got caught puck watching.

Earlier in the third, Vancouver’s Mazden Leslie found Ty Thorpe open on a backdoor feed but Thorpe missed a wide open net. Leslie set up Payton Mount on a similar play in the frame only to have Kamloops netminder Dylan Garand thwart Mount with a pad stop.

Vancouver seemed able to dictate play for stretches. They’re deeper up front now, buoyed by the return Friday of Mount, who hadn’t played in six games due to illness, and the Giants debut of Jacob Boucher, who hadn’t played for Vancouver since coming over from the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Justin Sourdif trade on Jan. 17 due to a leg injury he picked up with the Oil Kings.

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Boucher opened the scoring, firing one past Garand on a 2-on-1 with Mount at 9:05 of the first period. It was his 11th of the season. Zack Ostapchuk counted his 10th of the year for Vancouver, taking advantage of a Connor Horning screen to tally shorthanded at 2:21 of the second, making it 2-2.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of the day. We had a couple of empty nets that we normally convert on, but we didn’t. But we played well enough to win,” said Vancouver coach Michael Dyck. “For the most part, we played the game the right way.”

Kamloops (29-11-1-0) won their seventh in a row Friday. They’re second in the West, and would have home-ice advantage in a series with Vancouver if the playoffs began today.

Vancouver (16-22-2-0) is at the Seattle Thunderbirds (24-11-4-1) on Saturday (6:05 pm, Sportsnet 650) and then host Seattle on Sunday (4 pm, Sportsnet 650) at the LEC. The Giants go into Saturday in seventh place in the Western Conference, five points behind the sixth-place Prince George Cougars (18-22-2-1) with three games in hand. They were 13-7-1-0 on Dec. 4, but have gone 3-15-1-0 since then.

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“They are going to be frustrated. We have put together a losing streak that we have to climb out of. They just have to focus on what they are going to do to get out of it,” Dyck said of his players leaving the ice visibly upset Friday.

As for Boucher, who hadn’t played since a Dec. 12 Oil Kings game against the Swift Current Broncos, Dyck said: “He gave us some energy. He will work some of that rust off. Both him and Payton Mount give us some added depth. This brings another element of speed, another option we have got up front. Lots of energy and certainly a guy that I think is going to create some offense for us.”

Minten’s goal was his 12th. Seminoff, with his 17th from him, and Logan Stankoven, wit his 24th, also scored for Kamloops. Jesper Vikman, making his ninth straight start in net for Vancouver, made 28 saves, while Garand turned away 23.

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