Hitmen 5 Giants 0

Chris Driedger made 44 saves for his third shutout of the season and eighth of his career as the Calgary Hitmen beat the Vancouver Giants 5-0 Friday night at Pacific Coliseum.

Adam Tambellini scored twice, both on the powerplay, while Brady Brassart, Jake Virtanen and Chase Lang added singles.  Brassart’s goal extended his goal scoring streak to five games, tying a season high.

Jaynen Rissling and Greg Chase both had two assists for Calgary who built period leads of 1-0 and 3-0.

Special teams played a major factor as the Hitmen went 3-5 on the powerplay while killing all nine chances for the Giants including a pair of 5-on-3’s.

The victory improves the Hitmen record to 34-15-3-3, good for third place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 74 points.

Calgary will now wrap up their five game BC road trip tomorrow night in Kamloops before returning home to host Prince Albert on Tuesday and Saskatoon next Friday.  Both are 7:00 p.m. starts at Scotiabank Saddledome.

                                                     Photo Credit: ClintTrahan.com

Calgary Hitmen 5 at Vancouver Giants 0
Friday, February 7, 2014 - Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC

Calgary 1 2 2 - 5
Vancouver 0 0 0 - 0

1st Period
1, Calgary, Brassart 25 (Rissling, Roach), 12:01.
Penalties-Traber Van (roughing), 3:44; Rankin Cal (roughing), 16:48; Roach Cal (delay of game), 17:35; served by Malenstyn Cal (too many men), 19:39.

2nd Period
2, Calgary, Virtanen 33 (Sanheim, Helgesen), 7:05 (PP).
3, Calgary, Tambellini 6 (Rissling, Chase), 16:19 (PP).
Penalties-Trzonkowski Van (tripping), 5:17; Osipov Van (interference), 7:56; Dosanjh Van (tripping), 15:24; Roach Cal (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 16:19; Geertsen Van (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 16:19; Harmsworth Cal (high sticking), 19:14.

3rd Period
4, Calgary, Tambellini 7 (Brassart, Chase), 14:47 (PP).
5, Calgary, Lang 8 (Padakin, Helgesen), 19:54.
Penalties-Rissling Cal (roughing), 5:30; Tambellini Cal (holding), 9:14; Lang Cal (tripping), 9:35; Hamilton Van (holding), 14:08; Brassart Cal (tripping), 16:02.

Shots on Goal
Calgary 10-11-8-29. Vancouver 10-10-24-44.

Power Play Opportunities
Calgary 3 / 5; Vancouver 0 / 9.

Goalies
Calgary, Driedger 21-13-3-3 (44 shots-44 saves). Vancouver, Rathjen 11-5-3-1 (21 shots-18 saves); Lee 16-16-3-2 (8 shots-6 saves).

A-5,005
Referees-Mike Campbell (89), Brett Iverson (24).
Linesmen-Justin Hull (49), Nathan Van Oosten (115).