Giants Game Report: Game 9 vs Portland
The Giants escaped the LEC on Saturday night with 2-points, despite being outplayed and outshot 40-29 by the Portland Winterhawks. Jesper Vikman was the difference-maker, the Giants chased Dante Giannuzzi just 12-minutes into the game, scoring 3 goals on 8 shots, but were on the defensive all-night and Vikman bailed them out with consistently solid goaltending.
What last night really showed me is that the Giants have two ways to win games; 1) the top-6 forwards outscore the opposition, or 2) Vikman steals the game, like he just did. Concerns about the bottom-6 still perseist, the new line of Lies-Halaburda-Semeniuk showed promise, but they weren’t able to capitalize on their chances at even-strength. Here’s hoping the bottom-6 can more reliably contribute offense, because if not a lot falls on the shoulders of Vikman, Sourdif, Lysell, etc. to get things done this season.
Forwards:
1st Line:
#42 Justin Sourdif (F, ‘02): The Winterhawks did a good job of shutting down Sourdif, who registered just a single shot on goal last night. The Giants had trouble generating anything consistently at even-strength, and in the third period even the powerplay seemed to be giving up more chances that it was generating. The excuse of it being the second-half of a back-to-back doesn’t hold up, as the Winterhawks played the night before as well, this was their third game in four nights.
When the Giants were up 3-0, but it was clear the Winterhawks were outplaying them, the Coaching staff moved Ostapchuk into Hall’s place on the first line, but it didn’t really seem to spark anything. I think they go back to the original lines come Tuesday’s matchup against Prince George, who they seemed to work well against the night before.
Game Score: -0.1
#12 Adam Hall (F, ‘01): It was a tough night at even-strength for all of the Giants, but Hall had an otherwise strong game with a secondary assist and 3 shots on goal. He made a great play on the opening goal, creating a puck-battle and allowing Halaburda to retrieve the puck and setup Horning.
Game Score: 0.7
#19 Payton Mount (F, ‘02): The first period might have been Mount’s best of the season so far, he had a nice solo rush opportunity mid-way through the period, and setup Hall with a nice drop-pass for another good look later on. Mount was more dynamic with the puck, and was moving his feet until he took a bad penalty in the offensive zone at the end of the first. After that the Winterhawks controlled the game, and Mount faded back into the background.
I think the first period is an encouraging sign for Mount, prior to then he had seemed rather ‘vanilla’, in that he doesn’t have a ‘thing’ that he does better than anyone else, or that makes him special. Hopefully, he can more consistently be the player he was in the first period.
Game Score: 0.0
2nd Line:
#8 Ty Thorpe (F, ‘02): I don’t know what the perception of Thorpe is around the league, but to think he was traded for a 2023 Conditional 6th Rd pick is bananas, criminally underrated. He made a great play to receive a pass from Lysell that was behind him, and pulled it forward to beat Giannuzzi for what would be the game-winning goal, and retrieved a dump-in, setting Camazzola up for the insurance goal moments later. He nearly setup Ostapchuk not 30-seconds after that as well. Thorpe was buzzing when the Giants were scoring, and was one of just two Giants forwards to post a Corsi % above 50%.
Game Score: 1.9
#11 Fabian Lysell (F, ‘03): After being held pointless against the Cougars, Lysell got back on track with a primary assist on Thorpe’s goal, and a secondary assist on Camazzola’s. His speed and playmaking ability are hard to miss, but can make him a bit one-dimensional at times when he’s overreliant on them. What I mean to say is, there was an opportunity just before the midway point of the second period, with the Giants on the powerplay, he had a lane to the net but held up and made a great pass to Ostapchuk who nearly tapped it in. I think he’ll always be a pass-first type of guy, but developing a shot to keep defences honest and to capitalize on those opportunities is the next step for him.
Game Score: 1.5
#10 Zack Ostapchuk (F, ‘03): Still sporting a full bubble after taking a shot to the face the night before, Ostapchuk led the Giants with 5 shots on goal and drew a penalty. I feel bad for Ostapchuk, he’s so snakebitten, he had a great chance setup by Lysell in the third period, he had a shot at the empty net blocked, and got a chance in tight that was stopped by Gordon. The chances are there, and he’s making good plays on the forecheck; on Camazzola’s goal Ostapchuk was the first forechecker and knocked the Winterhawks’ player off the puck, allowing Thorpe to retrieve it and work it back to the blueline. The goals will come, he’s shooting an ice-cold 3.8% (1/26) and while he has traditionally had a shooting percentage below the average for forwards I can’t see this drought lasting very long with the chances he’s getting - prior to this season his career average was 10.9% (12/110) so he should regress up to his average.
Game Score: 0.6
The Bottom 6:
The bottom-6 for the Giants really struggled, with all six recording a Corsi sub-40% and generating a combined total of 4 shots on goal. On a night where even the top-6 struggled at 5-on-5 you might be able to write it off as a bad night, but this ties into deeper issues the Giants have had re: depth. The team just spent a ton of draft capital to upgrade the defence, and are clearly in Win-Now mode. Against the higher-end teams in the West, their depth hasn’t gotten it done and that could be a problem on a long post-season run.
#36 Justin Lies (F, ‘03): Another pretty non-discript night for Lies who had two shots on goal. There’s a player here, he skates well, can be physical, and so on, but he just hasn’t put it all together so far, and with Halaburda moving into the top-6 ahead of him against Prince George on Friday he’ll need to figure it out or get passed.
Game Score: 0.0
#7 Ty Halaburda (F, ‘05): Ty Halaburda had another strong night, recording a primary assist, but was held without a shot on goal. His assist on Horning’s opening goal was another example of how he’s getting more comfortable in the offensive zone and is able to generate offensive chances from on or below the goalline. He had another sneaky pass to Semeniuk in the second period, but he wasn’t able to pull the trigger.
Game Score: 0.4
#14 Ethan Semeniuk (F, ‘05): Semeniuk had a good scoring chance on a 2-on-1 with Lies, I don’t think he knew he had support, but wasn’t able to elevate the puck over Gordon. Halaburda set him up from another opportunity in the second, but he wasn’t able to get a shot. He looked good on a line with Lies-Halaburda-Semeniuk.
Game Score: -0.2
#15 Jaden Lipinski (F, ‘04): I don’t have a ton of notes for the fourth-line (Cull-Lipinski-Kohle), they got caved in at even-strength, but an encouraging sign for Lipinski is that he seems to be seeing the ice better and maybe aclimitizing to the pace of the WHL. He attempted a really nice cross-ice pass to Leslie coming downhill in the offensive zone, but put the puck too far ahead of him. I think it’s coming for Jaden, but just not there yet.
Game Score: -0.7
#28 Julian Cull (F, ‘04):
Game Score: -0.2
#17 Kaden Kohle (F, ‘02):
Game Score: -0.4
Defencemen:
#29 Tanner Brown (D, ‘02): On an evening where pairs and lines were shaken up at times, Brown had a good night with 3 shots on goal and a 48% Corsi. 48% might not sound good, it’s clearly less than 50%, but when the Giants as a team were 40%, he was +8% relative to his teammates. He had a nice scoring chance in the second period as well.
Game Score: 0.3
#47 Mazden Leslie (D, ‘05): Leslie had three shots on goal, and sprung Semeniuk on his 2-on-1 with Lies during the second period to contribute offensively. Defensively, Leslie blocked a couple of shots and was a +1 on the night. Not his best game of the season, but he held his own as a 16-year-old against a good team.
Game Score: 0.0
#22 Connor Horning (D, ‘01): Get this man goalie pads. Horning blocked not one, but two great scoring chances for the Winterhawks, including a kick-save in the second period to go along with a goal and four shots of his own. He got caught a in no-man’s-land a bit on the Winterhawks lone goal, and I’d like to see him deny the pass there and let Vikman take the shooter, instead he hedged and got burnt. Still, all in all a strong effort from Horning.
Game Score: 0.7
#21 Nico Camazzola (D, ‘03): Camazzola and Horning struggled at even-strength, but Camazzola made some nice plays, including a good breakout pass to Lysell which would eventually get back to Camazzola in the offensive zone and he would burry it for his second of the season.
Game Score: 0.3
#13 Damian Palmieri (D, ‘04): Three fights in three games, who put the burr in his saddle?
Game Score: 0.0
#24 Brenden Pentecost (D, ‘03): Recorded his first point of the season, with a secondary assist on Thorpe’s game-winnig goal.
Game Score: 0.4
Goaltender:
#30 Jesper Vikman (G, ‘02): Vikman was the best player on the ice for either team, stopping 39 of 40 shots, and only having his shutout bid broken at the end of the third period while on the PK. He made a number of nice glove saves and was in position all-night. He looked prepared to win the game on his own. Even though the Giants were outplayed and out-chanced all game long, Vikman gave the Giants a chance to win and they capitalized.
Game Score: 3.2