Giants Game Report: Game 8 vs Prince George
The Giants returned to the LEC last night, facing off against the Prince George Cougars for their second meeting this season. Before getting to the game, the Giants made a series of roster moves pre-game. First, the Giants announced the acquisition of Evan Toth (D, ‘02) from the Calgary Hitmen, followed shortly by the news that the team has released Cade McNelly (D, ‘01) and then finally, that they had acquired Alex Cotton (D, ‘01) from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Acquired:
D, ‘01 - Alex Cotton (2020, 5th Rd, Detroit) - from Lethbridge
D, ‘02 - Evan Toth - from Calgary
Relinquished:
D, ‘01 - Cade McNelly - released
D, ‘05 - Hunter Mcinnes (*Prospect: 2020 - 9th Rd Pick*) - to Lethbridge
2021 - 6th Rd Pick - to Calgary
2022 - 3rd Rd Pick - to Lethbridge
2022 - 5th Rd Pick - to Lethbridge
2022 - 6th Rd Pick - to Lethbridge
2023 - 4th Rd Pick - to Lethbridge
In addition to the changes on the blueline, Hockey Canada announced yesterday that Mazden Leslie (D, ‘05) and Ty Halaburda (F, ‘05) have been invited to the Capital City Challenge in Ottawa.
All of this good news seemed to go to the Giants’ legs as they played a complete game, and took 2-points from Prince George, outshooting them 35-26 en route to the 3-1 victory.
Forwards:
1st Line:
#42 Justin Sourdif (F, ‘02): Sourdif continues to dominate and with a goal and an assist last night he now has six multi-point efforts through 8 games. His 15 points (5-10-15) in 8 games put him at the highest points per game of any player in the WHL.
Sourdif is a player that can generate offense single-handidly, but I’m really interested in seeing how the trades the Giants pulled off yesterday affects his offensive output. Sourdif is a responsible player in the defensive-zone, and most of the defencemen on the roster rely on him to come low and get the puck, in order to lead the breakout himself. With the additon of Evan Toth and Alex Cotton the breakout should improve, and take a bit of the burden off of Sourdif, which might free him up to produce offense more effectively.
Game Score: 2.8
#12 Adam Hall (F, ‘01): Held pointless, but with five shots on goal, Hall and the first line hummed along, dominating play. He had a pair of good chances, setting up Mount for a great shot, and getting a pass from Halaburda in the slot for a dangerous chance on the powerplay. Hall and Halaburda are seemingly developing some chemistry on PP2, creating 2-on-1s down low for quick shots in tight.
Game Score: 1.3
#19 Payton Mount (F, ‘02): With a goal, two shots on goal, and 2 additional shot attempts, Mount was more active in generating offense last night. He nearly had a second goal in the third period on a nice pass from Hall, but Brennan robbed him with a glove save. Mount’s increased involvement came in large part on the powerplay, where it seemed that the Giants were working their PP from his side.
Game Score: 1.9
2nd Line:
#8 Ty Thorpe (F, ‘02): Thorpe had a pair of assists on two great plays. He made a sneaky centering pass to Leslie, getting the Giants on the board, and chipped an indirect pass to Sourdif as he came out of the box, sending him on a partial break for the game-winning goal. He nearly scored his own goal, slipping the puck through Brennen’s legs, but it hit the post and was cleared by the Cougars’ defenceman.
Thorpe continues to contribute offensively, while being a responsible 200-foot player and a key member of the PK, making him incredibly valuable.
Game Score: 1.6
#11 Fabian Lysell (F, ‘03): Pointless with three shots on goal, Lysell was great in transition and showcased his skating ability, but wasn’t able to turn that into offensive production for his line. He wasn’t as involved on the PP last night, with everything being funneled down Mount’s side, except late in the first period when he hit the post with the man-advantage.
I think Lysell is another player, along with Sourdif, who is going to benefit greatly from the blueline upgrade that the Giants pulled off yesterday before the game. The thought of Lysell getting an on-target breakout pass, in-stride and at full-speed, should keep defencemen in the BC Division awake at night.
Game Score: 0.8
#10 Zack Ostapchuk (F, ‘03): It was a scary scene just 2-minutes into the game when Ty Halaburda’s shot missed the net and hit Ostapchuk up high. He came back in the 2nd with a full bubble on, and was good, getting a scoring chance on the PK during the 2nd period. Seeing him back on the ice was a huge relief.
Game Score: 0.5
The Bottom 6:
#36 Justin Lies (F, ‘03): Lies had a pair of shots on goal, and was a -1 on the night. It wasn’t his strongest game of the season, Lies turned the puck over at the offensive blueline which lead to an odd-man-rush and the Cougars’ lone goal of the night. He was given a 10-minute misconduct late in the third period for what seemed to be chirping.
Game Score: -0.1
#7 Ty Halaburda (F, ‘05): Both Halaburda and Leslie seemingly had the ‘Invited to the Capital City Challenge’ boost as they both came out flying to start the game. The new-look third line of Lies-Lipinski-Halaburda played well and gave the Giants a third line that was able to generate shots on goal, especially early on in the first period, before Ostapchuk’s injury.
Halaburda has made a number of good plays from below the goal line over the last couple of games, setting up his linemates for quick shots in tight, especially Hall when they’re on the powerplay. He has been much more involved in transitioning the puck by getting low to support his defencemen on the breakout and getting more comfortable carrying the puck in the neutral zone. It was really interesting that when Ostapchuk went down Halaburda got ice-time with Lysell and Thorpe, not Lies.
Game Score: 0.4
#15 Jaden Lipinski (F, ‘04): Lipinski nearly got his first goal of the season last night, and as a part of that third line really clicked offensively. He was effective in transition in the neutral zone and is starting to generate shots on goal.
Game Score: 0.3
#23 Kyle Bochek (F, ‘03): A nice assist on the Leslie goal, though I thought it should have been secondary assist, not primary, as he kept the puck in at the blueline and worked it down low to Thorpe, who then fed Leslie.
Game Score: 0.7
#18 Colton Langkow(F, ‘04):
Game Score: 0.1
#28 Julian Cull (F, ‘04):
Game Score: -0.1
Defencemen:
#29 Tanner Brown (D, ‘02): Brown played a solid game recording two shot attempts and a shot on goal. He was a +2 and had a Corsi of 67%. You can tell the Coaching Staff appreciate his responsibility and reliability because with the Giants up 2-1 late in the third the Coaching Staff shutdown Leslie and put Brown with Horning to try and defend the lead. For me, Brown is the ‘Mount’ on the back-end. I don’t mean this as an insult, but they’re both kind of vanilla despite being effective players.
Game Score: 1.0
#47 Mazden Leslie (D, ‘05): Leslie was buzzing right from puck-drop, directing 7 pucks at the net, with 4 getting through for shots on goal. He scored his 2nd goal of the season on a nice play in the 2nd period, diving from the blueline into space in the high slot and receiving a nice pass from Thorpe. He fanned on his first shot, but knocked in the loose puck on his backhand…they don’t ask how, they ask how many.
The only concern I have for Leslie after the additions yesterday is, will he have a role on the powerplay, and in the top-4. There’s a world where the Coaching Staff defer to experience and age, giving Cotton and Brown roles on the PP, and having a top-4 of Brown-Cotton and Toth-Horning, leaving Leslie on the 3rd-pair. Personally, I think Leslie has shown that he’s a top-4 defenceman in the WHL and he’s earned the opportunity to remain that, I hope he continues to get those minutes.
Game Score: 2.0
#22 Connor Horning (D, ‘01): Horning registered two shots on goal, and nearly scored his 4th of the season, hitting the post on the 200-foot attempt at the empty net.
Horning is the player I’m least confident in projecting where he’ll sit in the D-corps moving forward. In the lone game McNelly played he formed a pair with Horning, showing the Coaching Staff are alright or even trying to get an over-age pair, so perhaps he slots in along-side fellow right-shot defenceman Alex Cotton. Or, if the Coaching Staff try to slot each of their right-shot defencemen on their strong-side, does that bump him down to a third-pair behind Cotton and Leslie? Horning is the player with the widest range of outcomes after yesterday’s additions, we’ll see how he slots in moving forward.
Game Score: 0.7
#21 Nico Camazzola (D, ‘03): Camazzola had a trio of shots on goal, and with Horning his pair really tilted the ice for the G-Men, thus rating out really well on the night. He made a really careless play midway through the 2nd period that almost led to a scoring chance against.
The Coaching staff seems to have real confidence in Camazzola, so I think he survives the blueline additions and has a regular role on the back-end, but he’ll have to keep Pentecost and Palmieri at bay in order to keep his spot in the lineup. Some healthy competition on the back-end should be a good thing for the young blueliners.
Game Score: 0.8
#13 Damian Palmieri (D, ‘04): That’s fights in back-to-back games for Palmieri, who was held off the scoresheet last night. The 3rd pair was outshot at even-strength, but Palmieri made some nice plays, including shutting down a Cougars 2-on-1 early on in the 1st period.
With the addition of two defencemen - Evan Toth (‘02) and Alex Cotton (‘01) - and the departure of just Cade McNelly (‘01), Palmieri (‘04) and Pentecost (‘03) will be competing with presumably Camazzola to get into the lineup, and perhaps that’s where the fighting and physicality is coming from - showing some fire in order to justify a place in the lineup.
Game Score: -0.2
#24 Brenden Pentecost (D, ‘03): Pentecost had a quiet game, with just two blocked shots and a 38% Corsi. He’s in the same boat as Palmieri with the D-Corps probably looking something like this moving forward:
Horning (R) - Cotton (R)
Brown (L) - Leslie (R)
Toth (L) - Camazolla (L)
Pentecost (L) - Palmieri (L)
Maybe Toth plays with Cotton and they reunite Horning and Camazolla, regardless all of a sudden the blueline is really crowded and both Pentecost and Palmieri are going have to find a way to get into the lineup.
Game Score: -0.1
Goaltender:
#31 Will Gurski (G, ‘02): In his second start of the season, Gurski made 25 saves on 26 shots for the win, and bounced back after a tough start to the season just a few games ago. Despite iffy rebound control at times, Gurski looked confident in goal and made some key saves to keep the Giants in the game and preserve their lead in the 3rd period. He was especially good on the penalty-kill for the Giants and was a huge part of them going 4/4 on the night.
The Giants used Gurski on the front half of a back-to-back this time, it’ll be interesting with the number of back-to-backs the Giants will play this season to see if the Coaching Staff do that consistently, or if it’s a matchup dependent decision.
Game Score: 1.9