Giants beat Devils in part one of weekend double-header

Photo: William Cherry

Belfast Giants got the win they needed to stay five points clear at the top of the Viaplay Elite League with a 3-1 home win at a sold out SSE Arena.

Two goals inside a minute put the Giants up by a pair after 20 minutes, although they were lucky to survive a Devils pushback as the clock wound down. Ben Bowns made an excellent stop sliding across his crease prior to the Giants going ahead, with Scott Conway shooting into his pads to deflect the puck into the net at 11:31 and give Belfast the lead. Mark Cooper doubled the advantage at 12:17 for the league leaders. Cole Sanford had a breakaway opportunity after coming out of the penalty box but couldn't beat Tyler Beskorowany, while the visitors were having some sustained pressure before the intermission buzzer cut them short.

The Devils fledgling powerplay, seventh overall in the league, had a chance to get them back into things early in period two but they failed to call Tyler Beskorowany into any serious action. With the teams back at full strength, the Giants thought they'd gone three ahead only for Ciaran Long's goal to be washed out on a coach's challenge for goalie interference - the officials deciding the puck was already covered by Ben Bowns. Belfast did, however, get a deserved third with 1:20 left in the period through Conway kicking the puck out of his feet and firing past Bowns.

Trevor Cox deked two Giants players before passing to Cole Sanford to beat Beskorowany at the far post to get the Devils on the board with 8:03 to play. Mark Richardson sent a pass through the crease shortly after as the Devils pushed for a second, and were unlucky with a number of shots sailing just past Beskorowany's post. Bowns was pulled with around 90 seconds to go, but the Devils couldn't find another goal and the Giants held on for the two points.

The teams meet again on Sunday.