Bad goals, poor defensive coverage, weak goaltending, simply horrific reffing and a decided lack of drive and impetus to score at all costs. The Giants lost this game poorly; the Americans out-raced them and at times out-worked and out-hit them. The Giants came out for the first ten minutes playing the game they needed to play for the full 60. The stifling reffing killed any and all emotion and energy this game promised to have for the first half of the opening frame. The Giants special teams were poor tonight and it was the major difference in the game. Despite opening the game on a PP and getting their only other goal on the PP, the man-advantage looked bad and the PK even worse. Ten penalties (8 PP chances) were called in the first period between two teams that had a grand total of three called in the entire game 5 in TC. Are you telling me that the games were that different or is it simply that the officiating in this league is all too entirely suspect and inconsistent. TC tied it up on the PP and then added a go-ahead marker on the PP. Neither of the goals was hard won, but rather easy advantage taken of bad goalmouth scrambles. Vancouver got one back in the second tying the game going into the third. TC found the net three times in the third, scoring more easy goals and it was done.
Milan Kytnar opened the scoring on the PP right on the doorstep, a place all too infrequently occupied by the Giants in this series and these playoffs and I am still trying to figure out why. James Henry dug out the puck and got it to Kevin Connauton. Kytnar tipped the shot between the wickets on Drew Owsley. Less than a minute later Johnny Lazo put home a bad rebound on a TC PP. A couple of minutes after that Justin Feser notched another PP marker off of yet another poorly handled puck in the crease. Craig Cunningham scored one getting his own rebound to go. James Henry did an excellent job stripping the puck along the boards with a smart check separating the player from the puck, another tactic under-utilised by the Giants this season and these playoffs. The puck went to Neil Manning for the point shot. The two teams went into the second intermission tied at 2’s.
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