The Lethbridge Hurricanes had a two goal lead late in the second period slip away as they fell 4-2 to the Giants in Vancouver Saturday night.
The loss was the Canes second in a row on this B.C. road trip. It drops their overall record to 36-14 on the season. Red Deer lost to Brandon Saturday, so the Hurricanes didn't give up any ground to the Rebels in the Eastern Conference standings which is the good news.
Just like in Victoria the night before, the shots on goal totals were lopsided in favour of the home side. The Giants badly out shot the Canes 37-16 ion the night.
Things started off nicely for the Hurricanes in this game. 8:31 into the first period, Cory Millette scored his first of two on the night and 21st of the season to make it 1-0 Lethbridge. That was it for the offence in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second, the Hurricanes would strike again, this time with less than five minutes remaining in the period. Cory Millette scoring his second of night and 22nd of the year and the visitors sat with a 2-0 lead. That lead though would vanish pretty quickly for the Canes. Vancouver scored a pair of quick goals, one on the power play from Trevor Cox and then with just over a minute left in the period, Alex Baer tied the game at 2-2 after two periods of play.
In the third, the Giants would finish things off. Chase Lang gave Vancouver its first lead of the game midway through the period, making it 3-2. The Hurricanes pushed for the equalizer, but Brennan Menell scored into an empty minutes with less than a minute to go and the Giants would end up scoring four unanswered goals to beat the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-2.
The Canes power play went 0/3 in this game, while Vancouver was 1/3.
It was back-to-back losses for the Hurricanes for the first time since November 14-15. Needless to say, it hasn't happened often to the Canes this season.
This now sets up a huge game in Kelowna Tuesday (Feb. 2). The Canes hold a slight one point lead on the Rockets for first place in the WHL. Lethbridge with 72 points and the Rockets with 71.
Thanks,
Pat
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The Canes had 4 days off between the Edmonton game and these two games against the Royals & Giants. They competed as if they had the flu, &/or were on the back end of a 6 or 7 road game stretch.
ReplyDeleteHow do you explain the team with the best WHL record celebrating a ten-game win streak by directing only 33 shots at the opposition net in two hockey games? - West Coast Vacation?
Estephan was deservedly crowned with WHL & CHL P.O.T.W. honors, then he, Burke, and the rest of the Canes (save the tenders) were all pretty much A.W.O.L. this weekend.
The Canes strayed from making quick & safe plays with the puck to random and high risk ones to non-specific &/or non-existent targets. These recent close road losses as well as the 3-0 shutout of the Oil Kings are a function of the excellent Cane goal tending, not the team's competitiveness.
The amount of Matador-defense in the defensive end is on the rise and the general lack of team speed & physical play is giving confidence and opportunity to the opposition. The number of odd-man rushes given up due to lost battles with all three forwards below the opposition goal line is on the rise, while the net presence and willingness to go to the net in the most recent three games has been uncharacteristically absent.
Come on lads! More fun to win, no? Get it back on the rails. Go slay the Ogopogo on Tuesday!
Don Resten-Laurills
Kelowna vs Lethbridge - WHL First Place Showdown... on a Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteKelowna has beat the Canes twice already this year. Time to bring it closer to an even season series!
Both teams are eager to end their 0-2 streaks. Both teams have had less than stellar most recent two game performances. Both have suffered recent losses to the Victoria Royals. Which team will bounce back?