Friday night battle

Four Canadian world junior hopefuls will try to leave their mark in their final game of league play before the selection camp on Friday Night Hockey.

The Vancouver Giants will host the Portland Winterhawks for the first of four meetings between the two clubs. Giants forward Brendan Gallagher will soon share the same colours as Winterhawks forwards Ty Rattie and Brad Ross, along with defenceman Joe Morrow when the camp opens on Sunday. Don Hay, however, will not be at the game, as Glen Hanlon takes over in his absence as he guides the Canadian team.

Catch the Giants and Winterhawks on Rogers Sportsnet One, West and Pacific at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Gallagher seemingly has an inside track to earn a roster spot on the Canadian team given his player-coach relationship with Hay spans four seasons. Hay downplayed any advantage for his club team player.

"He knows what I expect from players playing in a team game, and I know what to expect from him, as far as how he plays the game," Hay said. "I don’t think that’s an advantage, but I think it’s definitely a situation where we know what is expected of each other."

How will the Giants slow Portland’s dynamic duo?

The Winterhawks aren’t at a loss for goals scored this season despite the departures of Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Johansen. Portland features one of the best one-two punches in junior hockey with Rattie and Swiss forward Sven Baertschi. Rattie is a pure marksman while Baertschi is a talented puck-distributor.

"Baertschi and Rattie are really playing well and leading them offensively," said Hay. "They’re going to be explosive, and we’re going to have to do our best to limit their opportunities."

Hay said the game plan is simple.

"Check, check, check. That’s how we have success here in Vancouver. It doesn’t matter who we play against, that’s part of our identity and we’re going to have to be at our best to be ready for them because they can come at you a lot of different ways."

Portland head coach and general manager Mike Johnston is familiar with the Giants’ tendencies.

"I don’t think Vancouver’s changed their style over the last couple years," he said. "They have the same trademarks and they all come from Don Hay as their coach."

How much of a factor will Gallagher play?

The Giants may not possess the same dynamic duo, but have a rather electrifying, lightning-in-a-bottle star player in the pint-sized Gallagher. The Montreal Canadiens’ prospect is a hard worker with soft hands and creative instincts.

"He’s their key guy. Everything revolves around him," Johnston said. "They’re going to have a plan against Baertschi and Rattie, and we’re going to have a plan how we handle Gallagher and his line."

"Brendan Gallagher’s our identity-type player," Hay said. "He competes hard every night and leads our group in work ethic and energy, and he makes people better around him. He’s a very important player for us."

Can the Winterhawks continue receiving offence from their defence?

Portland’s defensive core boasts two terrific puck-rushing defencemen in Morrow and former first-overall pick Derrick Pouliot. Both players have the ability to lead the rush or clear the zone effectively with a quick outlet pass to the forwards.

"Our defensive group is both skilled and can skate the puck, but the most important thing is, we make a good first pass," Johnston explained. "If you make a good first pass, you escape your zone quicker. You spend less time in the defensive zone, and that’s what we want to do. We want to minimize our time in our own zone. We want to get out of there quick, escape clean and it all starts from how our defence handles the puck."

"Their defencemen create a lot of offence," Hay said. "They’re a real hard team to defend at times because they have a lot of different weapons, but we just have to be aware of them."

Pouliot’s maturation and development is already paying dividends this season. Not new to losing players early to the NHL, Johnston also noted his team may not have Pouliot in his age 19 season.

"I look at Derrick now – he handles a lot of situations where last year he may have made a mistake and lost his confidence," Johnston said. "This year, he seems to handle it and rebound. In the last month he’s played some of his best hockey since he’s been with the Winterhawks."

Will special teams factor in the outcome?

Both teams are among the league leaders in both special team units. The Winterhawks are second in power-play with a 29.4 per cent rate of efficiency, while the Giants are fifth-best with a penalty kill operating at 81.9 per cent.

Hay wants his team to avoid taking needless penalties and opening the door to the Winterhawks’ vaunted power-play. Johnston, meanwhile, believes the winner of the game may be the team that best uses its time with the man advantage.

"You’re probably looking at four or five power-plays for each group, and you get that one goal and the other team doesn’t, that could be the difference in the game," he said.

As is often the case, the Giants’ penalty kill is influenced by their goaltender, Adam Morrison, who came over in an early-season trade from Saskatoon.

"All aspects of our games have gotten better since Adam’s come to us," Hay said. "He’s a veteran player that played in all the situations, and how he plays really dictates how our team plays."