Giants Game Report: Game 10 @ Prince George
The Giants kicked off their back-to-back games in Prince George last night, falling 1-0 to the Cougars. The G-Men were missing some key contributors, with Sourdif, Ostapchuk and Lies all out of the lineup, but debuted their new upgraded back-end, with Alex Cotton and Evan Toth dressing for the first time as Giants, after being acquired earlier this week.
Forwards:
1st Line:
#8 Ty Thorpe (F, ‘02): Thorpe had a few good scoring chances, but wasn’t able to get the Giants on the board with either of his three shots on goal. As the defacto number one centre, with Sourdif out of the lineup, Thorpe did a good job of controlling play at even-strength (Corsi 61%), but the top-6 was clearly missing it’s top finishing talent.
Game Score: 0.6
#11 Fabian Lysell (F, ‘03): Leading all Giants with a Game Score of 1.3, Lysell worked hard to get pucks to the net, recording 6 shot attempts, and drew a penalty in the offensive zone. He and Cotton ran the first unit powerplay, which moved the puck well-enough, but was kept to the outside and wasn’t able to generate many high-quality looks.
Game Score: 1.3
#12 Adam Hall (F, ‘01): Hall had the best scoring chance of the night for the Giants, coming off the bench he got a shot off from the high-slot with just over 5-minutes left in the 3rd period. He and Thorpe connected for another chance with the man-advantage, but weren’t able to crack Tyler Brennan.
Game Score: 0.2
2nd Line:
#19 Payton Mount (F, ‘02): With Sourdif and Ostapchuk out of the lineup, Mount had an opportunity to be more of a focal point for the Giants offensively, but was only able to deliver 4 shots on goal. Mount has been a good complementary player, along-side Sourdif and Hall on the top-line, last night was a chance to show he could drive play, and he wasn’t able to do that.
Game Score: 0.5
#7 Ty Halaburda (F, ‘05): Elevated into the top-6 after a string of strong performances, Halaburda didn’t look out of place, but struggled to generate offense against a higher quality of competition. On the Cougars’ goal, Halaburda left his man to pressure the puck in the neutral zone, leading to Horning having to play a 2-on-1 on the entry and the goal agaainst. It was a bad read to leave the Cougar occupying the net-lane, and it ended up in the back of the net.
Game Score: -0.2
#14 Ethan Semeniuk (F, ‘05): Like his fellow 16-year old Halaburda, Semeniuk struggled to generate offense and was outshot at even-strength while playing in the top-6. He moved around the lineup throughout the game, eventually playing on a third-line with Lipinki and Langkow that looked good and finding his way back into the top-6.
Game Score: 0.0
The Bottom 6:
#15 Jaden Lipinski (F, ‘04): Lipinski seemed to find his grove on a third-line with Kohle and Langkow, he was effective in neutral-zone transition with the puck and outmatched the Couagrs’ depth.
Game Score: 0.8
#17 Kaden Kohle (F, ‘02): Kohle led all Giants skaters in shots on goal, with five, and formed a strong duo with Lipinski, having either Langkow or Semeniuk rotating through as the third on that line. Kohle and Lipinski combined for 9 shots, more than any other line combined and were bright spots for the Giants.
Game Score: 0.9
#18 Colton Langkow (F, ‘04): Rode shotgun with Lipinski and Kohle as they tiled the ice, but wasn’t able to register a shot or shot attempt.
Game Score: 0.4
#21 Nico Camazzola (D, ‘03): The lone other game that the Giants went 11-7, in their season opener against Victoria, they played with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, rotating through the pairs, this time they moved Camazzola up and played him as a true forward - if I was adopting this strategy I might have moved Leslie to forward and played him in the top-6. The fourth-line of Cull-Bochek-Camazzola didn’t get much ice-time, and didn’t register a shot between the three of them.
Game Score: -0.3
#28 Julian Cull (F, ‘04):
Game Score: 0.0
#23 Kyle Bochek (F, ‘03):
Game Score: -0.1
Defencemen:
#29 Tanner Brown (D, ‘02): Brown for the first-time this season was separated from Mazden Leslie for an extended period, and formed a pair with Horning. Brown had 4 shots on goal, including one of the Giants better chances to tie things up in the third period. Apart from a misplay with Gurski during the 2nd period, Brown was solid all night.
Game Score: 0.7
#22 Connor Horning (D, ‘01): Horning and Brown controlled play at even-strength, but Horning looked slow and got caught flat-footed a few times, including early in the 1st period when a bouncing puck at the defensive blueline got past him and he wasn’t able to match speed or catch the Cougars’ forward who got the puck and a scoring chance. It was a tough night for him defensively.
Game Score: 0.3
#13 Damian Palmieri (D, ‘04): That’s now a fight in four straight games for Palmieri, seemingly out of nowhere. Palmieri played on a pair with newcomer Alex Cotton, who Palmieri relied on to handle most of the responsibilities. He made a great play in the last 5-minutes of the 3rd period to pull a trickling puck from the goal-mouth and keep the Giants in the game.
Game Score: 0.0
#27 Alex Cotton (D, ‘01) In his first game as a Giant Cotton found himself playing with a depeleated group, but made the most of it in his debut. He recorded 2 shots on goal, and a further 4 blocked shots on the night, occupying Sourdif’s spot on the top powerplay unit.
Cotton showcased good offensive instincts and puck-skills, combined with a strong defensive game. He has a quick release and pucks settled on his stick, which let the powerplay move the puck more smoothly. In defensive transition he played a really good gap, and was able to challenge forwards on entries due to his strong skating ability. He made a nifty spin move to ditch a forechecker on a breakout attempt as well.
Game Score: 0.4
#47 Mazden Leslie (D, ‘05): Leslie played his first game this season away from Tanner Brown, and formed what was deployed as the third-pair with newly acquired Evan Toth. He had a quiet game, despite being a bit shakey to start the night and having a turnover in the first 5-minutes, but looked really good on the 4-on-4 stretch during the 2nd period. With the G-Men playing with 11 forwards, and moving Camazolla up as the 12th, I thought it was a missed opportunity to play Leslie up in the top-6, with his skill and skating he’d be able to keep up.
Based on last night, it looks like Leslie might see a reduced role with more veteran defencemen added to the mix, which is a shame. He’s only a 16-year-old, so playing bottom-pair minutes isn’t uncommon, especially with the Giants looking to win this season, but he had a great start to the season and deserves credit for that.
Game Score: 0.3
#6 Evan Toth (D, ‘02): A steady and quiet debut from Toth as Leslie’s partner. He wasn’t overly active offensively, but was trusted on the breakout to make smart plays and supported Leslie when he joined the rush.
Game Score: 0.4
Goaltender:
#31 Will Gurski (G, ‘02): Another quality start for Gurski against the Cougars, he deserved a win making 23 saves on 24 shots for a save percentage of .958%. Rebound control was again an issue with pucks sitting in the blue-ice, but he made some key saves, including on a 2-on-1 late in the 2nd period to keep the Giants in the game.
Game Score: 1.6