Giants respond with win over Panthers

Photo: William Cherry

Belfast Giants bounced back from a Friday night loss to Nottingham with a 4-1 win over the Panthers on Saturday to stay four points ahead at the top of the Premier Sports Elite League season.

Ciaran Long put the Giants ahead with just 2:21 played going through on Kevin Carr and sniping for the first goal. 

Just under four minutes later, Scott Conway got on a loose puck in front from the returning JJ Piccinich's feed to double the Giants' lead. 

Just as they had done 24 hours earlier, the Panthers scored the next goal, pulling the score back to 2-1 through Sean Richards at 14:37.

However, unlike the previous night's game it was the Giants that got the all-important next goal - Darcy Murphy striking at 26:27 to re-establish the home side's two-goal advantage.

Belfast moved 4-1 ahead with 7:15 left to play in the third period with David Goodwin tipping Piccinich's shot on the powerplay to make things comfortable for the hosts who managed out the final minutes to secure the win.