Giants let lead slip but win late

Photo: William Cherry

Belfast Giants cut the gap on Sheffield Steelers down to just a point with a 5-3 win on Friday night at the SSE Arena.

The 6,014-strong crowd saw the hosts give up a three-goal lead on their way to winning, which started with two in the opening period.

Lewis Hook beat Matt Greenfield through a screen low into the bottom corner to open the scoring at 7:33, while Scott Conway doubled the home side's advantage with 1:26 left in the period off a Gabe Bast pass. 

Danny Kristo got the visitors back into things 50 seconds into period two, but just 40 seconds later Conway finished at the far post again on a tic-tac-toe play to make it 3-1. The Steelers brought the score back to 3-2 at 26:29 through Daniel Ciampini but had Greenfield to thank for saves off Conway and Mark Cooper to stay just one behind.

A couple of penalties on the hosts allowed the Steelers good pressure early in period three, and that told when Marc-Olivier Vallerand capped his return to the team with a goal with 14 minutes to play. The game was end to end and after the Steelers hit a post, Ben Lake pulled off a magnificent tip from a tight angle off a Josh Road feed to put the Giants back ahead at 55:19. 

Conway completed his hat trick inside the final minute after Dowd was called for an unnecessary cross-check while the Steelers skated 6-on-4.