A Gutsy Bounce Back Yo-Yo Game

Giants Pluck Thunderbirds
Vancouver 5 Seattle 4

It dismays me when teams sit back after having success pressing in the offensive zone. The boys coughed up far too many goals playing poorly in their own end and failing badly on the PK. I never got the theory behind the strategy of sitting back when you have the lead. First of all you tend to get flatfooted in the neutral zone and one forechecker does pretty much nothing to break up a break-out except in extreme circumstances. The boys really did not do well in their own end, but the positive is that they did not give up and pressed very hard when attacking.

Some nice checks and an early fight (24 seconds) between Hauf and Geertsen seemed to boast a potentially feisty affair, but it ended up being a paper tiger as the game itself was quite sedate. The boys had an intense first period and three PP chances where they were able to achieve nothing, despite firing 16 shots on back-up tender Logan Flodell in his 4th start. They held the T-Birds to 5 shots and it worried me that we had all of those chances and could not find the back of the net, mainly due to our inability to finish. Seattle opened the scoring in the second and The Gs answered with two to lead 2-1 going into the third. The T-Birds tied it up on a carryover PP from the end of the second. The Giants took back the lead about 5 minutes later. The T-Birds tied it up (again on the PP) when the puck found twine, but bounced out and a horn had to sound after some cycling to indicate a goal by the video boys in the rafters. The Giants tied it up again off some good forecheck and a quick shot. The Birds used some poor puck play to tie the game for the final time. The Giants used a late breakout/breakaway to take a lead they would not give up, but they tried their damnedest to give it back and gave my heart a few jolts in the process.

The teams skated to a scoreless first. The Giants dominated on the shot sheet and with scoring chances, but they could not solve the rookie netminder. The T-Birds opened the scoring in the second about mid-way through the period. The goal came off of a bad defensive breakdown by the home squad. The Giants tied it up on a great individual effort by Jackson Houck (unassisted) after a good turnover created by some hard forechecking. The Gs took their first lead of the game in the final minute of the period, when Jakob Stukel came hard out of the corner and cut across the front of the net, deeking the defender before slipping it past Flodell. Jackson Houck had the lone helper. Seattle tied it up early in the third, off of a kind of bogus penalty at the tail-end of the second. The Giants reclaimed the lead 5 minutes later after a fine shot by Jesse Roach rifling the puck stick-side on Flodell low post and in. I need to see a lot more of that from Roach. I think he has that game in him, but he needs more minutes and more of those situations in my mind. He’s also the type of player we have wanted for some time, a bigger forward with some skill. I truly hope they don’t waste him playing just fourth line minutes.

Seattle used yet another PP opportunity to draw even a short time later. A great forecheck by Dalton Sward, who should have had an assist on the play in my estimation, popped the puck free on the end boards and an opportunistic Zane Jones picked up the loose puck and roofed it short-side on Flodell, to retake the lead. Seattle tied it AGAIN just past the mid-way mark and the home-town boys were back to square one. Credit the Giants for continuing to press and stopping that stupid mid-ice trap they were doing while they had the slim lead(s). Tyler Benson was sprung loose on the breakaway (while the Gs were playing 4 on 4) and was fed nicely by Carter Popoff off the rush as Benson crossed the blue-line, cut toward the net and picked the top corner over the glove of the Seattle netminder. The Giants gave their fans a scare as they scrambled around their end while the T-Birds cycled the puck with their goalie pulled for the last two minutes. A few more scares and a couple of clutch stops by Porter down the stretch preserved the win for Porter and his team, who got a bit of puck luck and made some big saves when needed.

Team Notes: Houck’s 17th of the season, Jones’ 26th. Atwal was out of the line-up I suspect for the fisticuffs and a game misconduct from Saturday’s game after the final buzzer. A hard price to play for a pretty mutual bout. The Seattle player did not get a game misconduct in Saturday’s tilt, but did get a fighting major.

Fight Night: 24 seconds in Mason Geertsen agreeably dropped the mitts with Jared Hauf. A pretty even tilt, but some extra board banging by yours truly (as the fight was right in my corner of the ice) and it appeared that Geertsen took the upper-hand getting the marginal victory. It feels like this bit of fisticuffs was a carryover from Saturday night in Kent.

Zebra Cage: Jeff Ingram and Tyler Adair. I didn’t mind the reffing for the most part, but there were two calls, which seemed to be stretching a bit. I didn’t like the mutual roughing call that sent on Osipov alone to the sin bin. I really hated the embellishment call on Menell when the replay shows his foot being clearly taken out from under him. A really dumb addition with zero evidence to support it. Also, who is going to dive carrying the puck in their own slot trying to get it out of danger? I also was not too fond of the boarding call on Foster at the tail-end of the second, but I didn’t see the play well enough to really bring a full-on grumble. I did appreciate that when the penalties were 3-0 Giants that they didn’t get a “just because” call to balance out the scoresheet.

The Giants out-shot the T-Birds 34-30, but considering they were leading 16-5 after the first you have to be a bit disappointed. The Gs PK was simply awful. They were not challenging the puck carrier, leaving clean lanes to the net and were poor clearing the front of their net. The Gs had a rough time in their own zone for 2/3rds of the game and frequently failed to clear the puck from their zone, getting caught scrambling. They were quick to loose pucks in the offensive zone, but slow to react in their own end of the ice. They lacked finish, especially in the first period and did alright with their first two PP chances, but sucked pretty hard on their last two. Too much over-handling of the puck, not enough traffic to the net. It would be nice to run a screen and have Benson take that shot from the top of the face-off circle instead of making that pass every time either cross ice or to the side of the net. If you don’t take the shot then the goalie will never play the shot. He has a quality shot and needs to take it more, ideally with bodies going hard to the net for the screen or the rebound.

A good bounce-back game despite the deficiencies. Claude Noel was checking his heart and blood pressure and looking at his grey hairs in the mirror along with most of the fans after that yo-yo third period of not always welcome excitement. I loved that the boys did not give up or give in, but I would have been okay with a few less goals against and a more comfortable finish, but there’s no denying how exhilarating a battle back win can be. The Gs have another home game on Wednesday when the Oil Kings come to town. It doesn’t get any easier. Puck drops at 7:00pm PST at the Coliseum.

Three Stars:

1. Tyler Benson
2. Shea Theodore
3. Jackson Houck

Dondo’s Hardhat: Goes to Tyler Benson… he got the game winner, but he was all over the ice tonight and seems to be the PP quarterback the Giants have been needing, but he has to trust his shot more. Early on he was noticed trying to do too much himself, but when he began to trust his teammates and go to the open ice he became more effective. If we ever get him a real quality skilled linemate around his talent level he will dominate this league. He is just too hockey smart not to really shine eventually.