Giants come back from three down in Nottingham

Photo: Panthers Images

Belfast Giants came from three goals down to beat Nottingham Panthers at the Motorpoint Arena.

Belfast found themselves three goals down after 20 minutes in Cardiff on Friday night, and things didn't start much better for them in Nottingham on Saturday either. Stephen Anderson tracked a loose puck in front of Tyler Beskorowany's net to put the hosts one up after 4:30 played to give the Panthers an early lead. At 13:14, a contender for pass of the season saw David Levin beautifully set up Brett Welychka on a 2-on-1 leaving the latter to finish high and double the lead. 

3:20 into period two, Luke Ferrara controlled a bobbling puck and shot it into the open net after an initial Beskorowany save to put the hosts, deservedly, three ahead. The Giants got back into the game thanks to Mark Cooper at 26:51 when he tipped Matt Foley's shot past Alex Dubeau. Under two minutes later, Beskorowany denied Levin at one end before Cooper saw his shot at the other deflected past Dubeau off a defenseman to make it 3-2 at 30:18. 

The visitors were firmly on the front food and were level 11 seconds before the break. The Panthers lost the puck in the offensive zone, and as the Giants broke Grant Cooper scored his first Elite League goal with a fine finish to level things up.

The league's leading point scorer, Scott Conway, completed the turnaround for the Giants 5:13 into period three when he cotton on to good work from Mark Cooper and rolled the puck into the net. Nottingham came up against an in-form Beskorowany as they looked for chances to tie the game, and with the clock ticking down Ben Lake slotted into the empty net with 75 seconds remaining to round off a comeback win for the Giants.