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Sure, 鈥檛is the season and all, but the Victoria Royals have been far too giving for their own good.
For the fourth time in the last five games, the local hockey club fell behind 3-0 to a Western Hockey League opponent. And for the third time, they ended up on the wrong side of the ledger.
This time it was a 3-1 setback to the host Vancouver Giants on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre as the all-to-common theme of giving continued through the Royals鈥� road trip across the province. The same two teams will do it again tonight at 7:05 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre before wrapping up for the Christmas break.
The Royals twice fell behind 3-0 in Prince George while earning a split on the road earlier in the week, and surrendered that same lead in Lethbridge in losing 4-1 to the Hurricanes on Dec. 2.
It occurred yet again on Friday, 鈥� not exactly the type of starts a team is looking for.
The Royals had the first good chance of the game when Jeremy Masella rang the puck off the goalpost early on, but a pair of Vancouver goals 28 seconds apart late in the first period placed Victoria behind the eight-ball yet again.
Former Royal Jared Dmytriw opened the scoring on a deflection that got by Victoria netminder Griffen Outhouse on a Vancouver power play at 19:29. It was Dmytriw鈥檚 first goal in six games as a Giant after being traded westward by Red Deer.
Then with 2.5 seconds remaining, Darian Skeoch鈥檚 point shot eluded Outhouse, who had to fight through traffic in front of his net.
Tyler Benson upped the advantage to 3-0 early in the second on an assist to Dmytriw, and the chances for a Royals comeback shrank as small as the Grinch鈥檚 heart.
Newcomer Noah Gregor cut into that lead with 45 seconds remaining in the second period as the visitors trailed 3-1 after two periods. They were kept off the scoresheet in the third as Giants goaltender David Tendeck made just 21 saves for the win. Outhouse faced 37 shots.
With the defeat, the Royals are now 20-12-3-0 and two points up on the Kelowna Rockets in the sa国际传媒 Division, but the Rockets have two games in hand. The Giants are now 16-3-2-2 and have now won four straight games.
Twitter/tc_vicsports
