Lee Double Helps Giants Douse Flames

First Period

The Giants started quickly and David Goodwin was denied early from a narrow angle before the Flames instantly went on the breakaway and Jake Kupsky had to be alert to deny Josh Waller. Justin Fazio in the Guildford goal was made to work again by Patrick Guay and Jason Fram on the rebound. The debutant d-man Fram was denied again soon after before a powerful Cole Shudra shot was held.

The visitors came close when Alexandre Lavoie chopped Jonathan Racine’s shot just wide before they killed a penalty served by Tyler Busch for roughing with minimal fuss. Logan Cockerill and Jordan Kawaguchi had shots also saved by Fazio with another penalty killed after Travis Brown was sat down for cross checking. The Flames finished the period with a shot by Dustyn McFaul held as we went into the first intermission scoreless.

Second Period

Paul Dixon’s men had the first chance of the second too as Brett Neumann’s effort was held by Kupsky before Mike Lee fizzed one wide. Having struck out twice on the powerplay in the first, the hosts opened the scoring on the man advantage at 23:46. It came off the stick of Jake Gaudet as he tipped home Lee’s effort while Jonathan Racine sat in the penalty box for high sticking (1-0).

The Giants then killed two penalties of their own after Ty Prefontaine and Kaleb Pearson both served time in the box. During the four minutes with the numerical advantage, Guildford’s best chances came through Waller and Jack Jacome. Despite these successful penalty kills, the Giants conceded the equaliser on 34:52 through a neat Mathieu Gosselin finish (1-1).

Adam Keefe’s men responded well to this setback and, after Pearson’s shot just squeezed wide, Lee’s rasper would find the target on 37:19 which meant that the hosts would hold a slim advantage heading into the second intermission (2-1).

Third Period

Gosselin was hunting for his and his team’s second early in the third but fizzed a shot wide before JJ Piccinich dangled his way through the Guildford defence but just couldn’t divert his effort on target. However, the Giants would extend their lead soon after with another powerplay goal and it was Lee who got his second of the night, smashing one home on 42:44 with Matt Alvaro in the box for roughing (3-1).

This did not deter the Flames and they got themselves back into proceedings when Gosselin pounced on a rebound off Cole Sanford’s shot on 48:19 (3-2). However, this narrow lead was soon opened up again and it came off the stick of David Godwin on 49:53 as he was in the right place to sweep home after brilliant work from Scott Conway (4-2).

It was a quickfire double that ultimately put the game to bed as, just seconds later, Conway smashed a shot home from a narrow angle that popped Fazio’s water bottle on 50:16 (5-2). To their credit, the Flames did not lie down and, after Justin Ducharme had a shot saved, Nate Kallan pulled one back on 58:23 to round off the scoring (5-3).

Up Next

The Flames are back in town today (Sunday) at 5pm to round off the weekend double-header. You can still grab limited tickets here.