Brandon Magee had a goal and assist, while Coleman Vollrath made 28 saves for back to back shutouts as the Victoria Royals blanked the visiting Vancouver Giants 3-0 Saturday night.
“I thought we did a lot of things well, for 40 minutes we played a really solid game…I thought we were in control of the game…” said Head Coach Dave Lowry
“In the third period we got a little easy and gave them some opportunities, but we know we have the ability to lock it down and play tight.”
Victoria won 2-0 one night earlier in Vancouver, and taking a 5-4 season series lead. The two clubs meet again Sunday at 1pm, to wrap up 3 games in 3 days.
“It’s the way it goes, they’re dealing with the same thing so we have to make sure we’re just better than they are.” said Magee on wrapping a 4 game road trip with 3 straight against Vancouver.
The Royals won their 4th in a row, while handing the Giants their 9th consecutive loss. The G-men have been outscored 37-9 in that stretch, and shut out 5 times.
Victoria has 2nd place locked down and home ice in the first round with their opponent yet to be determined.
Vancouver is 6 points back of Kamloops and Tri City with 3 games remaining. The Giants will face the Rockets for their final two games of the regular season.
“We’ve never had an easy game against Vancouver,” said Lowry on the rivalry and facing a team in the 10th spot in the West fighting for their playoff lives,
“These guys play hard, we always have hard games against each other and we just wanted to make sure we were prepared for that.”
The Royals led 1-0 after the first on Jack Walker’s 18th of the year. They scored a pair in the in the middle frame from Austin Carroll and Magee.
Magee’s goal was his 112th of his career and his 100th in a Victoria uniform. This makes him the first player in Royals’ history to accomplish the feat. Magee now has goals in 4 straight games, and has 13 points in 6 games against Vancouver this season (4g 9a).
Carroll’s 37th goal of the year tied the Royals’ record for most markers in a season.
Victoria was 0 for 1 on the power play, while shutting down both Vancouver man advantages.
“Discipline has been huge, and they have a good power play…” said Lowry, “we didn’t want to give them easy opportunities to hang around in the game where we felt we were in control…”
Vollrath set the franchise’s all-time record for shutouts in a season with 6 surpassing Lucas Gore and Patrik Polivka. Victoria also extended their all-time franchise record for team shutouts in a season to eight.
“There’s 20 guys in front of me that are playing extremely well as of late, and I think that’s huge heading into the playoffs." said Vollrath on back to back shut outs,
"A lot of credit to those guys for the score on the board over the last two games.”
Vancouver netminder Cody Porter stopped 27 of 30 shots, suffering both shut out losses.
Victoria’s final home game takes place next Friday night against the Everett Silvertips for Fan Appreciation Night. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.
- Marlon Martens
Vancouver Giants 0 at Victoria Royals 3 - Status: Final
Saturday, March 14, 2015 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Vancouver 0 0 0 - 0
Victoria 1 2 0 - 3
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Walker 18 (Brown, Reddekopp), 16:22.
Penalties-Ramsay Van (tripping), 3:10.
2nd Period-
2, Victoria, Carroll 37 (Magee, Forsberg), 4:26.
3, Victoria, Magee 22 (Walker, Chase), 7:23.
Penalties-Crunk Vic (hooking), 17:41.
3rd Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Brown Vic (roughing), 8:55.
Shots on Goal-
Vancouver 7-11-10-28.
Victoria 11-13-6-30.
Power Play Opportunities-
Vancouver 0 / 2;
Victoria 0 / 1.
Goalies-
Vancouver, Porter 12-15-1-2 (30 shots-27 saves).
Victoria, Vollrath 28-14-3-1 (28 shots-28 saves).
A-6,591
Referees-Nick Swaine (35), Derek Zalaski (8).
Linesmen-Tim Digby (75), Nathan Van Oosten (115).
Play By Play Voice of the Victoria Royals on The Zone @ 91.3 FM
