Hot goaltender halts Blazers, Giants win 5-1

Photo: Allen Douglas/Kamloops Blazers

The Kamloops Blazers ran into a hot goaltender on Saturday at Sandman Centre, falling 5-1 to the Vancouver Giants.

Oren Shtrom was the lone Kamloops goal scorer. Ty Halaburda (2), Jaden Lipinski, former Blazer Connor Levis and Cameron Schmidt scored for the Giants.

The Blazers were down 2-0 after the first period, despite having outshot the Giants 15-10. Vancouver scored again in the second and added two more in the third before Shtrom got the Blazers on the board with a short-handed goal late.

Dylan Ernst made 33 saves on 38 Vancouver shots. Burke Hood stopped 33 of 34 Kamloops shots.

Announced attendance at Sandman Centre was 4,139.

With the loss, the Blazers fall to 22-35-4-1 on the season, dropping a spot to 10th in the 11-team Western Conference — six points out of a playoff spot with six games remaining.

They are back in action on Wednesday, when the Wenatchee Wild will visit Sandman Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.

A win would vault the Blazers back into ninth position, with three of their final five games against the cellar-dwelling Kelowna Rockets.