Kane sinks Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Evander Kane loves to score goals the way Paris Hilton loves to shop.
The Kamloops Blazers found that out the hard way Saturday night as Kane scored three times in the final 13 minutes 59 seconds to buy the Vancouver Giants a 5-4 overtime victory in a WHL game played in front of 5,008 well-entertained fans at Interior Savings Centre.
“He loves to score goals,” said Vancouver head coach Don Hay, who has been around long enough to know a big-time sniper when he sees one. “He really competes hard to get into those areas to score goals. He’s not afraid to go into those areas.”
Kane, who won’t turn 18 until Aug. 2, proved that in this one.
The Blazers took a well-deserved 3-2 lead into the third period, only to have Kane finish off a 3-on-2 rush during a Vancouver power play at 6:31.
Just 1:12 later, Vancouver defenceman Mike Berube intentionally shot wide left from the point and Kane took the rebound off the end boards and stuffed it past goaltender Justin Leclerc.
The Giants nursed that lead into the third-period’s final minute when the Blazers tied it with Leclerc on the bench for the extra attacker, right-winger Tyler Shattock sliding a puck through a mess of players and into the net.
But just 30 seconds into overtime there was Kane and, again, he looked cooler than Will Kane, the marshal in High Noon, at least until the puck was in the net. This time, the Vancouver native took a pass from Kamloops minor hockey product Casey Pierro-Zabotel, who thrilled two sections of his fans by setting up three goals and moving back atop the WHL scoring race, and found just enough room between Leclerc and his left post to get the puck through.
The Giants streamed off the bench to celebrate their 49th victory, one that tied the franchise record for victories in one season that was set a year ago.
“If he gets a chance, he’s going to put the puck in the net,” Shattock said of Kane, who will be an early first-round selection in the 2009 NHL draft. ”(Taking away) time and space on that kind of player is what we have to do.”
Kane, who had 24 goals in 65 games last season, upped this season’s count to 40 in 49 games with a score in a 3-2 loss to the host Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday. He has missed time with an ankle injury and while helping Canada win gold at the 2009 World Junior Championship.
Kane, who is putting up points at a pace of 1.65 per game, easily the best in the WHL, also has 41 assists. He and Pierro-Zabotel have turned into as deadly a pair of linemates as there is in the league.
“These last few games, we kind of had a dry spell,” Kane said. “I think I had one goal in the last five games. I wanted to come out tonight and have a big game. Me and him wanted to get back to where we were.”
Mission accomplished!
Still, the Blazers were full marks for the lead they took into the third period. They just weren’t able to close it out.
“I thought we played an excellent game,” said Shattock, whose goal was his 25th, tying him with left-winger Shayne Wiebe for the team lead. “We stuck to our system structure for 60 minutes. Even though we got down we came back and showed big character on our part.”
Defenceman Nick Ross, who was dealt by the Blazers to Vancouver on Jan. 8, and forward Garry Nunn, also scored for the Giants, while centre Scott Wasden, with two, and forward Dalibor Bortnak, who hadn’t scored in 20 games, also counted for Kamloops.
JUST NOTES: Referees Sean Raphael and Colby Smith gave Vancouver six of 11 minor penalties. . . . The Giants were 2-for-4 on the PP; the Blazers were 1-for-5. . . . Leclerc, making his 16th start in 19 games since Jan. 9, finished with 34 saves and likely would want two of the goals back – the winner and Nunn’s, which came from well out on the right wing. . . . Kamloops D Brandon Underwood returned to the lineup after a 19-game absence due to a broken thumb. . . . Vancouver’s Tyson Sexsmith stopped 25 shots in winning his 34th game. . . . Vancouver’s Jon Blum, perhaps the WHL’s top defenceman, remains out with a shoulder injury suffered Feb. 13 in Kelowna. Where he once was listed as day-to-day, he now is week-to-week. . . . Pierro-Zabotel came out of the weekend atop the scoring race with 104 points, two ahead of Calgary Hitmen F Brandon Kozun.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com