With five games remaining in their regular season, the Vancouver Giants are once again tied for first place in the Western Conference standings.
Wednesday night in Kamloops, the Giants (45-14-2-2) skated to a 5-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers (23-32-5-2).
Justin Sourdif and Bowen Byram each recorded franchise milestones thanks to their third-period goals.
Sourdif became just the third Giant to reach the 20-goal mark during his 16-year-old season, while Byram set a new single season record for goals by a Giants defencemen when he notched his 25th.
We got ourselves a New Leader in Goals by a Defenceman. Congratulations @BowenByram on your 25th Goal of the Season! #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/Ge0JWfMEFD
— xy - Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 7, 2019
Five different Giants recorded multi-point games as they finished 8-0 for the season against Kamloops.
BOX SCORE
1st Period:
No Scoring
Shots: 7-6 Vancouver
2nd Period:
VAN – Jadon Joseph (19) put the Giants ahead 1-0 when he converted off a wrap-around just 34 seconds into the second period. Lukas Svejkovsky and Tristen Nielsen earned assists.
*Kamloops Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson left the game at 1:37 of the second period with a lower body injury and was replaced by Dylan Garand.
VAN – Davis Koch made it 2-0 on a power play at 3:15 when his shot from the left-wing circle beat Garand to the stick side. Bowen Byram and Dylan Plouffe assisted on the play.
Shots: 14-2 Vancouver
3rd Period:
VAN – Justin Sourdif (20) increased the Giants lead to 3-0 at 9:45 when he one-timed home a Davis Koch feed from the slot. With that goal, Sourdif became just the third Giant in the history of the franchise to surpass the 20-goal mark in his 16-year-old season.
VAN – Bowen Byram (25) notched his franchise milestone at 13:03 when his shot from the right-wing circle ripped past Dylan Garand. With his goal, Byram surpassed Kevin Connauton to become the Vancouver Giants single season goal-scoring leader for a defenceman. Dylan Plouffe and Milos Roman assisted on the historic marker.
VAN – Jadon Joseph rounded out the game’s scoring for the Giants when he knocked home his 20th of the season off a Jared Dmytriw rebound at 16:47. Joseph’s goal also came via the power play.
Shots: 11-8 Vancouver
BY THE NUMBERS
• Final score: Vancouver 5 – Kamloops 0
• Final shots: 32-16 Vancouver
• Trent Miner: 16/16 saves for Vancouver (23-4-1-1)
• Dylan Ferguson: 10/11 saves for Kamloops (17-24-4-1)
• Dylan Grand: 17/21 saves for Kamloops
• Vancouver: 3/5 on the Power Play
• Kamloops: 0/5 on the Power Play
• 3 Stars:1) Milos Roman (VAN – 3A); 2) Davis Koch (VAN – 1G, 1A); 3) Dylan Plouffe (VAN – 2A)
• Since January 6th the Giants are now 22-2-0-2.
• Davis Koch’s 11-game point streak is the longest for any Giant this season. During that span he’s notched six goals and 12 assists for 18 points.
• Milos Roman extended his point-streak to 10 games thanks to three more assists on Wednesday. During that span he’s recorded seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points.
• Trent Miner finished 5-0 on the season against Kamloops with a 2.20 goals-against-average and a .917 save percentage and one shutout.
• All three of Trent Miner’s shutouts this season have come on the road.
• Bowen Byram finished the season with six goals and nine assists for 15 points to lead all Giants in scoring against Kamloops. Over the course of his six-game point streak Byram has notched four goals and nine assists for 13 points.
• Other than Justin Sourdif, the only two Giants to ever score more than 20 goals in their 16-year-old season were Evander Kane (2007-08 – 24) and Gilbert Brule (2004-05 – 25).