After a tough 0-4 loss the previous night to the Vancouver Giants, Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price wanted to return to the previous season’s success against the Giants, and on Saturday, February 26, they tasted that success.
The Royals have had a rough start to 2022, battling injuries and a challenging schedule. However, they have dominated their divisional rivals. A 4-2 victory on Saturday night brought them to a 9-3 record against the Giants.
The Giants came out firing in the first with big hits and accurate passing, and they more than doubled the Royals with 12 shots on net. Royals goaltender Tyler Palmer kept them in the game with an excellent first period. At the five-minute mark, Palmer shut down the Giants’ breakaway chance. The Giants were given a second chance to strike first on the board when Payton Mount was rewarded a penalty shot, but to no avail as Palmer denied the Giants, to keep the game scoreless in the first period.
The Giants had strong control of the puck over the Royals, but the locals weren’t going down without a fight. Any mistake the Giants made, the Royals were ready to steal their momentum and take the lead. The Royals showed a sense of energy coming into the second period. The horns sounded as the first goal of the game was scored by the Royals on a power play by Tanner Scott in the second period at 3:41 for his tenth goal of the season. 38 seconds later, Royals captain Tarun Fizer made a quick back-handed goal to put the Royals up 2-0 at 4:19 in the second.
The Royals did not take their foot off the gas and out-shot the Giants 14-2 in the second period. The power plays started to stack up against the Giants in the second period, as the game got chippy. The Giants players started laying massive hits on Royals forwards to counter the offensive push by the Royals.
To close out the second period, Fizer skated down the whole length of the rink, dancing around defenders at full speed to get a beautiful buzzer-beater at 19:59, the Royals up 3-0.
The stage was set for an exciting third period for the 3,900 fans in the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. The cheering would be cut short by Vancouver defenseman Alex Cotton, who put the Giants on the board at 14:26 in the thrid. Shortly after, the Giants’ Mount would fight for a loose puck and put it into the back of the net to bring the Giants to within one goal.
The determination and effort from the Giants players was almost enough to even the score. But with less than a minute remaining in the game, Scott Tanner put the dagger into the Giants by scoring an empty netter to secure a 4-2 Royals victory.
This was a big home win over the Giants and improves the Royals record to 15-31-4-1.
The Royals will look to carry this momentum over into their next game against the fourth-place Kelowna Rockets on Friday.