Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers/Allen Douglas

By Adam Donnelly

KAMLOOPS BLAZERS

Blazers score four in the third to topple Giants 6-2

Sep 28, 2019 | 10:50 PM

KAMLOOPS — When the Vancouver Giants opened the scoring on the power play less than a minute after Blazer’s rookie defenceman Trevor Thurston was sent to the box, it felt a little like Bowen Byram and the Giants might take over Saturday night’s contest.

Byram, the fourth-overall pick in June’s NHL Entry Draft, looked confident. He was directing traffic, carrying the puck around the Blazers zone at will, and finding seams for passes and shots seemingly by smell.

On the opening goal, he slipped a pass to Justing Sourdiff at the side of the night, who tucked a no-look-between-the-legs feed to Milos Roman. Roman went bar down over Dylan Garand’s glove to give Vancouver the lead.

But as the old cliché says, that first shift after a goal is essential.

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Just 45 seconds after the Giants scored, Logan Stankoven took a pass in stride in the neutral zone, blew past a pair of Vancouver defenders and from the high slot sizzled a puck past Giants netminder Trent Miner to even the score at one goal apiece.

It was a back and forth battle from there, with each team getting powerplays (one for Kamloops and a pair for the Giants) before the end of the period. However, neither team was able to break the deadlock in the opening frame.

Early in second, Orrin Centazzo would strip Giants defenceman Seth Bafaro of the puck on the forecheck, then swing around the net and feed Josh Pillar. Pillar one-timed the pass by Miner to give the Blazers a 2-1 lead.

That’s where the score would stay until the 34-second mark of the third when Centazzo would get his first goal of the year. On a two-on-one with Centazzo, Connor Zary fired a shot off Miner’s pads which bounced right to Centazzo who was driving to the net. The biscuit would bounce off the Blazers’ winger and beat the Giants goaltender for a 3-1 lead.

The Giants would answer, as Tristan Neilsen got his 3rd of the year for Vancouver about 90 seconds later.

The Blazers stifled any thought of a comeback, as Centazzo got his second of the night at 7:28 of the period. Down two, the Giants would pull Miner with over three minutes left to play, but the captain, Zane Franklin, would seal it with his third goal of the year.

Montana Onyebuchi added the final marker with a seeing-eye shot from the point just 15 seconds after Franklin scored to make it a 6-2 win for the Blazers.

The trio of Zary, Franklin, and Centazzo finished the game with a combined nine points.

After the game, Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston said he was happy with how the offence was spread out throughout his lineup.

“You need lots of players going each night,” Clouston said. “I thought those guys [Zary, Franklin, Centazzo] were good. I also thought Pillar, and Sopotyk and Stuart were also very good. They didn’t show as much on the scoresheet; I thought Stuey was really good tonight.”

The win was the Blazers second of the weekend, while the loss gives the Giants two wins and two losses on the young season. Dylan Garand stopped 33 of 35 shots in the victory, while Miner was good on just 20 of 25 in the loss.