Brendan Gallagher scored two goals and added a pair of assists as the Vancouver Giants blanked the injury-riddled Tri-City Americans 5-0 in Western Hockey League play Sunday.
Gallagher's two goals give him 43 on the season, while Giants coach Don Hay posted his 519th WHL victory to move ahead of Pat Ginnell and into third place in all-time league coaching wins.
Mark Segal stopped 23 shots for his third shutout of the season as the Giants beat Tri-City for the first time in three meetings this season.
Andrej Stastny added a goal and two assists while Michael Burns and James Henry also scored for the Giants (33-24-5), who moved within two points of the B.C. Divisions-leading Kelowna Rockets. The first-place finisher will receive home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Both Vancouver and Kelowna have 10 games left in the regular season.
Elsewhere in the WHL, it was: Chilliwack 4 Prince George 3 (SO); and Seattle 4 Everett 1.
At Vancouver, the Americans (37-20-4), who were missing six injured regulars, including starting goaltender Drew Owsley, suffered their fifth loss in six games.
After a slow start, the Giants took a 1-0 lead in the second and broke the game open with goals 13 seconds apart early in the third.
Gallagher opened the scoring 6:33 into the second period as he broke down left wing, cut in front of the net and swept the puck around Tri-City goaltender Chris Driedger.
The Giants had an extended two-man advantage in the second but they could not beat Driedger.
Driedger was victimized by a lack of defensive support early in the third period as Stastny and Henry scored in quick succession. Stastny put home a rebound at 1:05 and Henry fired in a hard wrist shot at 1:18 after he was allowed to skate out of the corner and into the slot all alone to put the Giants ahead 3-0.
Gallagher assisted on both goals. Burns increased Vancouver's lead to 4-0 on a power play midway through the third.
Gallagher closed out the scoring with just under four minutes left in the game as he redirected the puck behind Driedger.
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Bruins 4, Cougars 3 (SO)
At Chilliwack, B.C., Robin Soudek scored the shootout winner as the Bruins earned a crucial bonus point with a 4-3 win over the Prince George Cougars.
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Thunderbirds 5, Silvertips 1
At Kent, Wash., Marcel Noebels scored four goals, including three straight in the third period, to lift the Seattle Thunderbirds to a win over the Everett Silvertips
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