Blazers beat Giants 5-1 to earn first win of WHL season

Photo: Allen Douglas/Kamloops Blazers

Connor Levis beats Brett Mirwald in first-period WHL action Friday at Sandman Centre, where the Kamloops Blazers beat the Vancouver Giants 5-1.

The Kamloops Blazers scored two quick ones in the first and two more in the second Friday at Sandman Centre en route to their first win of the season — a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants.

Nathan Behm, Connor Levis, Harrison Brunicke, Emmitt Finnie and Shea Van Olm were the goal scorers for the Blazers. Tyler Thorpe scored the lone goal for Vancouver.

Behm opened the scoring at 16:39 of the first period with his first WHL goal — an unassisted marker on a turnover in front of the Giants net — and Levis made it 2-0 28 seconds later.

Goals from Brunicke and Finnie 58 seconds apart put the Blazers up 4-0 in the second period, and Van Olm made it 5-0 at 3:29 of the third. Thorpe beat Matthew Kieper at 13:03 of the third to get the Giants on the board, but that was all the offence the visitors could muster.

Kieper stopped 22 of 23 Vancouver shots to earn the win in net. Brett Mirwald made 27 saves on 32 Kamloops shots in a losing effort.

Neither team could capitalize on the power play. The Blazers were 0-4 and the Giants were scoreless on six chances.

Announced attendance at Sandman Centre was 4,119.

The Blazers are now 1-0-1 on the season, while the Giants move to 1-1.

The Blazers will hit the road for a game Saturday against the Silvertips in Everett.