Giants blow Panthers away in opening period

Photo: William Cherry

Five goals in the first period were enough to get Belfast Giants past Nottingham Panthers on Friday night in part one of their weekend double-header.

The vast majority of the 5,947 crowd at the SSE Arena saw the start they wanted as the Giants ran in three goals inside 11 minutes. Sean Norris got things started wit his first in the EIHL when he redirected a Matt Foley shot past Alex Dubeau at 4:39, while at 6:25 Gabe Bast shot straight off a Scott Conway faceoff win to double the home side's lead. 

Ben Lake made it 3-0 on the powerplay at 10:45, and although Fabrizio Ricci scored through a screen 31 seconds later, Lewis Hook beat Dubeau five-hole at 13:35 to make it 4-1. Sam Ruopp rounded out the period's scoring at 15:56 to give the Giants a 5-1 lead after which Dubeau was pulled form the net.

Corey Neilson put Dubeau back in net for period two - both he and Jackson Whistle both pulled off contenders for save of the week in period one, and the pair stopped everything thrown at them in the middle period to keep a four-goal differential.

Four down with just over 10 minutes to play, Neilson went for 6 attackers while Lewis Hook sat for Tripping at 49:43 but to no avail. Jordan Kelsall grabbed a late goal for the Panthers to set a final score of 5-2.