Giants chase down Panthers with home win
Photo: Wlliam Cherry
Belfast Giants closed the gap on league leaders Nottingham Panthers to three points with a 4-1 home win on Saturday night.
“We stuck to our game plan and played really hard,” began Giants’ JJ Piccinich. “Nottingham are obviously a good opponent and I thought we got a good win. We’re chasing them down, and obviously looking at other results around the league was great too, so overall a really good feeling.”
The Giants started quickly, with Piccinich and Ryan Smith both breaking away one-on-one against Kevin Carr, though the Panthers’ netminder denied both chances.
It was the Giants who opened the scoring through Smith at 10:21. Marcus Eriksson won the face-off, which came back to Smith, who finished excellently past Carr from the slot.
The Panthers’ best opportunity came with a minute and a half remaining in the period. Nolan Volcan was left with only Jackson Whistle to beat on a breakaway, but Whistle stood strong to keep the Giants ahead.
Belfast doubled their lead through Reid Irwin following great work from Ben Lake. A quick turn from Lake allowed him to get free and find Irwin in the left circle, where he struck a one-timer past Carr at 34:29.
The Giants made it three just 36 seconds later at 35:05. The puck rebounded off the backboards with Carr out of position, allowing Marcus Eriksson to finish into the empty net.
Neither side could capitalise on the power play, leaving the Giants three goals ahead through 40 minutes.
Nottingham had chances in the third but struggled to find a way past Jackson Whistle .The Panthers finally got on the board with 1:56 remaining. Jordan Kelsall took Matt Marcinew’s pass and one-timed the puck past Whistle to give the visitors a brief glimmer of hope.
That hope lasted just 39 seconds, however, as Ryan Smith found the empty net from his own zone after Carr was pulled for the extra skater.
The Giants are back on home ice on Sunday with Manchester Storm the visitors. “We’re just going to keep trying to ride this high into tomorrow and the week after, and it’s going to be a big month for us,” concluded Piccinich.
