Vancouver Giants experience best and worst of times in OT loss to Prince George

Friday’s Vancouver Giants game ended oddly, which was appropriate considering how crazy the whole night was.

The Prince George Cougars earned a 5-4 overtime win at the Langley Events Center and sacked the winner at 3:09 of the extra session when Chase Wheatcroft fired a shot past Jesper Vikman’s blocking side after taking the advantage of Ty Thorpe and Vancouver’s Carson Haynes had crossed on a loose puck deep in the Giants’ zone.

Vikman had handicapped Wheatcroft on a breakaway earlier in overtime. Wheatcroft also had a glorious shot at the win with 20.4 seconds left but missed a wide open net on a one-timer. Vancouver had their jump forward at 1:21 on the clock in the third when Samuel Honzek stepped in front of a clear attempt from Prince George at the top of the circles and fired a shot off the post.

Vancouver had a 3-1 lead and looked like the teeming, heavy forecheck team coach Michael Dyck wants. That quickly faded as the game opened midway through the second period and Vancouver began trading chances with the more talented Cougars. Prince George scored three times in two minutes and 30 seconds in that stanza to take a 4-3 lead.

Vikman finished the game with 34 saves but had six or seven highlight reel stops in the second half of the evening. Things could easily have gone wrong for Prince George.

Skyler Bruce, with his second of the night for Vancouver, tied it 4-4 at 4:42 of the third.

“There were glimpses of how we were playing the way we had to play,” Dyck said, “and then we started playing a track meet game and you can’t play that against them.

“We made a lot of mistakes and played right into their hands. I think it was us. They’re a very good team with the puck and dangerous when they’re in a hurry. If you flip it and start forcing pucks and misplaying, that’s what happens.”

Vancouver (21-26-5-2) will be right back tonight hosting the Everett Silvertips (27-24-2-1) at the Langley Events Center (7:05 p.m., Sportsnet 650). The Giants are seventh in the Western Conference, eight points behind sixth-place Everett and nine behind fifth-place Cougars. They are four in the eighth-place Kelowna Rockets (21-30-3-0) who hold last place in the playoffs.

Vancouver has 14 games left in the regular season.