Brendan Gallagher played the hero for the Vancouver Giants after his club's slow start against the Kamloops Blazers.

The two Western Hockey League teams squared off at Takhini Arena Saturday in a highly-anticipated regular season contest that wound up as the centerpiece for Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.

Don Cherry and Ron MacLean taped a segment for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada during the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadians game.

Vancouver's Darren Bestland and Kamloops' Jordan DePape ramped up the already absurd energy in the rink by squaring off at centre ice just 2:42 in the first. A second fight broke out between Vancouver's Wes Vannieuwenhuizen and Kamloops' Ryan Hanes with two minutes left in the opening frame.

But Gallagher stole the show by scoring two goals for the Giants – including the game winner at 17:15 of the third – to lift the Giants to a 3-2 win over the Blazers.

Gallagher, a 5'8”, 170 lbs. right-winger, redirected a shot from line-mate Spencer Bennett, who also assisted Gallagher's first goal.

"I think Spence Bennett did a great job, he hounded the puck behind the net and was able to get it in front of the net and I got my stick on it so luckily it went in,” Gallagher said.

"I don't think we got off to the start we wanted, but we definitely came out in the second and third. We showed what we're worth, and the crowd was great and enthusiastic all night. Couldn't have asked for a better night here in Whitehorse, so we're very thankful for them for coming out and supporting us.”

The Giants out shot the Blazers 31-28 after 60 minutes.

In the third period Blazers' goaltender Jeff Bosch stopped 11 of 12 shots.

"They got the last bounce in the game, and it's unfortunate that there was only a few minutes left and we didn't have much time to tie it up,” Bosch said.

"I saw most of (the puck). Gallagher came in front out of nowhere, he's one of the best scorers in the league, and he got his stick on it. He was going left and it changed direction straight to the right, so it's tough when all your momentum is going left.”

Gallagher, drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 entry draft by the Montreal Canadiens, leads the Giants with 74 points (38 goals, 36 assists) this season.

But his club started slow with four penalties in the first to the Blazers' two.

Blazers' centreman Thomas Franzee, from Brendan Ranford and Dylan Willick, took advantage on the power play off a point shot top corner through traffic past Giants' goaltender Mark Segal at 5:26 of the first.

Andrej Sastny responded for the Giants at 4:32 of the second when he flew down the right wing and snapped a shot high blocker side past Bosch.

Gallagher added his first of the game at 10:44 of the second when he cut in from the corner and tucked the puck in past the sprawling goaltender to give the Giants their second lead of the game.

Ranford, who was drafted 209th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, picked up the rebound off a point shot to tie the game heading into the third.

"Yes, it was tough for the two points (to lose), but it was a lot of fun to play the game,” Ranford said.

"Good atmosphere in here, it's good to see that Whitehorse came out and showed us how much support they have for the WHL.… It was a great honour.”

Ranford currently sits fourth overall in WHL scoring with 81 points (33 goals, 48 assists) in 57 games, while Gallagher sits sixth.

The Giants, who are owned by Hockey Hall of Fame member Gordie Howe and former Vancouver Canucks and Leafs coach Pat Quinn, among others, are now atop the WHL's B.C. Division with 65 points (two ahead of the second-place Kelowna Rockets), while the Blazers are last in the division with 51 points.

"I didn't think we played a good first period, and I think we got better in the second and third,” Giants coach Don Hay said. "To come out and get the power play goal early in the second period was important for us and then to take the lead. It was a tight game on both sides.”

Hay coached the Blazers from 1992-1995 and picked up two Memorial Cups in his last two seasons with the club. He went on to coach the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996 and the Calgary Flames in 2000.

"I thought the fans got to see a real good hockey game: couple fights, some goals, penalty kills and a lot of effort from both teams,” Hay said.

"We just scored at a real critical time of the game. We had a big penalty kill at the end that really helped.”

Both teams had to make slight adjustments to cope with the different dimensions of the rink – the offensive zone was smaller, the glass was shorter – before the game by holding practices when they arrived via charter flight from Vancouver Friday.

"Not a lot of people knew what the rink was going to have to offer, we had a practice to feel it out. We figured it was smaller behind the nets, smaller offensive zone, so we tried to keep our game pretty simple,” Gallagher said.

Hay added that the Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada celebrations added another dimension to the game.

"It's such a different routine – four o'clock game – everything is different. But we started talking about it last Monday. The rink here is a lot like our practice rink, so we talked about that, we shouldn't be surprised by a loud crowd,” Hay said of the 1,535 souls that packed Takhini.

"We just knew that there was going to be a lot of distractions for us come the day of the game, but just try to keep our focus, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

Bosch said he felt the extra energy of the game and had to focus to settle down.

"We got here two hours before the game, and the seats were already filled, so we tried to use it in a positive way and not get nervous but use the energy that the crowd provided. And I thought we did that for the most part, but it's just too bad that we got that bad bounce at the end,” Bosch said.

Ranford, nephew to goaltender and two-time Stanley Cup champion Bill Ranford, agreed.

"I think the end zones were a little bit smaller than a regular rink, but it was just a hard-hitting game, in-your-face hockey, it was a lot of fun,” Ranford said.

"It was kind of feeling like a midget game, just bringing back memories. I remember playing in provincials in midget back in the day, and there's probably this many people at our games too. It's a good atmosphere, sometimes you couldn't hear a pass.”

WHL commissioner Ron Robison added: "It shows that by bringing a league of our caliber here, I think it'll inspire people to enjoy the game and young players to continue to play,” Robison said.

"The most important thing is not necessarily this event, it's what you leave behind. If you generate more community enthusiasm and excitement about not only the game of hockey but as a community and what you can do, I think it's a wonderful legacy to leave behind.”