The Calgary Hitmen kept pace with the Saskatoon Blades atop the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference standings Friday with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Vancouver Giants.
Not only was this a matchup of conference leaders, but it was also a battle between of top ranked special teams, with Calgary's power play pitted against Vancouver's penalty-killing unit.
Gary Nunn opened the scoring for the Giants (18-10-3) in the first when his snapshot from just inside the Calgary blue-line found its way home.
Calgary (22-8-1) got on the board at 13:59 of the period when Kris Foucault tapped in an easy goal on the power-play from the edge of the crease.
A total of 40 minutes of penalties were handed out in the period, including four fighting majors and a ten-minute misconduct.
Calgary opened the floodgates in the second. Three goals in 2:50 saw the Hitmen take a 4-1 lead. Del Cowan picked up his fifth at 5:49, before Misha Fisenko and Ian Schultz scored 20 seconds apart at 8:19 and 8:39 respectively.
James Henry scored at 18:49 of the second and at 11:52 of the third to bring Vancouver to within one at 4-3.
But Brandon Kozun picked up an insurance goal for Calgary at 15:41.
Kevin Connauton scored on power play for Vancouver with a shot from the point in the final minute to make it 5-4, but the Giants could get no closer.
Calgary went 1-for-8 on the power play and outshot Vancouver 43-26 overall.
