The Royals began a stretch in which they play the Western Conference bottom-dwelling Giants (16-26-3) eight times in their final 27 regular-season games.
Vancouver, on its way to missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in the past five years, lost for the sixth consecutive game. Victoria (24-18-4) won its second game in a row, which were both 3-0 shutouts by Royals goaltender Griffen Outhouse.
鈥淭hat [back-to-back shutout wins] was the answer we were looking for after one of those games you don鈥檛 want to remember [9-2 loss Friday against Kelowna],鈥� said Victoria coach Dave Lowry.
Outhouse made 25 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. The Royals put 41 shots on Vancouver鈥檚 harried goaltender, Ryan Kubic.
鈥淭hat was a real gritty performance on our part. We were skating,鈥� said Lowry.
Victoria is 2-0-1 in its 10-game series against the Giants.
Vancouver, now in full rebuild mode, shipped away veterans Thomas Foster, Dmitry Osipov, Radovan Bondra and Alec Baer at the trade deadline last week and now has a roster with 10 players who are 17-years-old. While that may bode well for the future, that鈥檚 not going to get any WHL team far in the here and now against teams loaded with 18- and 19-year-olds.
It didn鈥檛 help the Giants鈥� cause to be missing Edmonton Oilers鈥� high second-round draft pick Tyler Benson to injury.
Defensive blue-liner Ryan Gagnon opened the scoring for Victoria with his first goal of the season at 6:35 of the first period. That鈥檚 not exactly Gagnon鈥檚 thing, but the offensive help was welcome.
鈥淸Gagnon] brings leadership and a high compete level,鈥� said Lowry, of his captain.
Victoria forward Vladimir Bobylev froze Kubic and the Maple Leafs draft pick then slid the puck across as Anaheim Ducks draft-pick Tyler Soy put it away to make it 2-0 at 4:32 of the second period. Flames-prospect Matthew Phillips, with his team-leading 29th goal of the season, made it 3-0 on an unassisted power-play scramble at 9:45 of the third period.
The Royals entered the game wary that the previous game against Vancouver was a 5-4 overtime loss Dec. 17 at home.
鈥淎nybody can beat anybody in this division and conference and we have to be good every night,鈥� said Lowry.
They were plenty good enough Tuesday in Langley.
The Royals now head to Alberta for games Thursday in Edmonton against the Oil Kings, Friday in Calgary against the Hitmen and Saturday in Red Deer against the Rebels.
