A near-epic collapse cost the Victoria Royals victory on Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as the Vancouver Giants overcame a two-goal deficit in the final 1:48 of regulation time, with the tying goal coming with just 1.4 seconds remaining, before Samuel Honzek put it away 6-5 for Vancouver at 1:50 of overtime.
Jake Poole, 20, led Victoria with his first Western Hockey League hat-trick, but it turned bittersweet in the snap of three quick Vancouver shots, two in the final two minutes of regulation, and one in overtime.
“It was nice to score but the two points would have been nicer,” said Poole.
“We wanted to get the win and those are two points we needed. They [Giants] got lucky bounces. Hopefully, we learn from this.”
The head-swivelling turn of events was made all the more deflating for the Royals in that they themselves had rallied from a 3-1 deficit before 3,079 noisy fans.
“I feel bad for our guys because they wanted so much to win and did everything right [in the six-on-five situations with the Giants goaltender and Las Vegas Golden Knights-signed Jesper Vikman pulled for an extra attacker],” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
“There was no complacency and guys were eating pucks. [Vancouver] made a couple of great plays. It was a wild game. We will learn from that and about how to respond.”
The Royals will have to do that on the road as they embark on a six-game road trip through the Central Division of the Eastern Conference, beginning Wednesday in Red Deer against the Rebels.
“It was a really tough loss and it [road swing] will be a good way to turn the page. Our players are disappointed but are very mature, confident and resilient.”
Riley Gannon and Teague Patton also scored for Victoria. Forward Brayden Schuurman, who represented sa国际传媒 in the IIHF world U-18 championship last spring in Germany, played for the first time this season since being injured in the NHL rookie camp of the Boston Bruins.
“It’s good to be back, It was a couple of lucky bounces [for Vancouver] but that’s the way it goes,” said Schuurman, who displayed flashes with seven shots on goal.
The Giants’ classy veteran Ty Thorpe had a fine night with two goals and two assists.
The Royals went to 2-8-2 and the Giants (2-5-3) ended a six-game winless run.
