Panthers dent Giants' title hopes

Photo: Darren Kidd

Belfast Giants' lead at the top of the Premier Sports Elite League table was cut to four points having now played two more games than Sheffield after a home loss to Nottingham Panthers on Friday night.

The Giants had an excellent opening period and led by two after 20 minutes. Scott Conway opened the scoring at 1:53 on the powerplay with a smart wrist-shot after the Panthers had tried to go 2-on-1 the other way.

His second of the night crossed the line courtesy of Kevin Massy who was unable to clear the loose puck from Conway's shot off the line and instead deflected it into his own net just 58 seconds later.

A terrible giveaway from Mark Cooper in his own zone handed the puck on a plate to Robbie Baillargeon to finish and make it a 2-1 game with 17:02 played.

Just 65 seconds into period two, the Panthers were level - Edwin Hedberg finished nicely in the slot after setting up the move with a nice take on the blue line.

That was how the score stayed until 14 minutes from the end of the third period. A miss-control from Griffin Reinhart on the offensive blue line turned the puck over and allowed Hedberg to set up Christophe Boivin for the 1-on-0 finish. 

Sam Roupp and Jordan Boucher both hit the crossbar inside the final ten minutes as the Giants tried to find a tying goal. They were undone when Tyler Beskorowany was pulled ith well over two minutes to go, but a turnover in the neutral zone allowed Matthew Myers to find the empty net with 2:10 to go.

Tyler Soy thought he'd brought the score back to 3-4 with 75 seconds remaining, but his tip was ruled out for a high stick and upheld after video review.

After the Panthers' first win over the Giants this season, the two teams meet again on Saturday night.