Giants go four points clear at top with four-goal win

Photo: Darren Kidd

Belfast Giants drew first blood in the first vs. second weekend double-header with a 5-1 home win over Sheffield Steelers, putting them four points clear at the top of the Premier Sports Elite League table.

If Adam Keefe had drawn up a perfect opening period before this game, then his Giants team would have executed it almost perfectly. 

The home side were three ahead after the opening 20 minutes at the SSE Arena thanks to a clinical ten-minute spell. David Goodwin opened the scoring 9:27 in period with a shot from the circle that a fully-sighted Rok Stojanovič let slip through his five-hole. 

Just over three minutes later, the home fans were on their feet again when Kevin Raine teed up Sam Ruopp for a slapshot form the point which was tipped in front by Mark Cooper to make it 2-0.

The home side's dream start continued 26 seconds before the buzzer with a nice interchange from Cooper and JJ Piccinich ending with the later sweeping home the pass on the powerplay.

Sheffield needed to score the next goal to make a game of it, and took advantage of a 5-on-3 to get on the board through Robert Dowd at 27:15. Under a minute later, the visitors were awarded a penalty shot after Marc-Olivier Vallerand had been impeded while going through 1-on-0 while shorthanded. However, the Steelers' top scorer was unable to convert the opportunity and his side stayed two behind.

Tyler Beskorowany made a couple of saves on Justin Hodgman in successive plays to keep the Giants up by a fair early in period three. With 46:35 played, Scott Conway snuck a shot through Stojanovič to make it 4-1 and give the Giants a healthier cushion heading into the final 10 minutes. JJ Piccinich added the home side's fifth with 8:45 to go, and while things did get heated in the closing stages as the Steelers tried to build some momentum for Saturday night, but it was the Giants who handed them a fourth-straight loss in a 5-1 win.