Giants Pull Even

r Casey Pierro-Zabotel had extra motivation heading into overtime on Sunday night.

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r After taking a third period penalty that opened the door to a Kelowna comeback forcing extra time, the WHL’s regular season leading scorer ended the game when he chipped a loose puck over Mark Guggenberger.

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r That goal, at 19:25 of OT gave the Giants a 4-3 win in game two of the Western Conference Final series and evened the series at a game apiece.

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r Sunday’s game was not a masterpiece of execution on the part of either team. But, as the end result would indicate, it had plenty of drama. The Giants held a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes before a two goal spurt by the Rockets in the final 7:01 of the third tied the game and set the stage for Pierro-Zabotel’s winner.

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r Vancouver’s Evander Kane opened the scoring at 5:02 of the first when he beat Guggenberger low on the glove side with a hard wrist shot. The goal was not the only impact the small, but mighty Giants’ scorer had on the game. He later had an assist and was a constant source of concern each trip to the ice.

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r Ian Duval squared things at 1:05 of period two with his 8^th of the playoffs and 3^rd in his past 2 games. But consecutive power play goals by Mike Piluso and Jonathan Blum had Vancouver up by a pair after 40 minutes.

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r Pierro-Zabotel got nailed with a double minor for high sticking at 12:10 of the third and the Rockets wasted little time on the ensuing power play to mount their comeback. After failing on a shot of his own, Tyson Barrie, who played an outstanding game on the Rockets’ blueline, calming slid a cross-ice pass that a wide-open Jamie Benn deposited into the goal at 12:29.

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r The Rockets continued to press after that and were rewarded for their diligence. A bouncing puck eluded the Vancouver defender just inside his own line leaving Cody Almond with a breakaway.

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r Almond looked like he might shoot high on the glove side but pulled the puck to his back hand and slid it through the legs of Tyson Sexsmith at 16:36.

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r In overtime, Guggenberger was tested a number of times before surrendering the winner. On that play, a rising point shot hit Pierro-Zabotel and landed in the goal mouth. The Giants’ star quickly scooped it home before the Kelowna defense could clear the puck to safety.

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r The series now moves to Kelowna for game three on Tuesday, followed by game four on Thursday.

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