Giants take Game 1 of Blaze double-header

Photo: William Cherry

7,298 fans saw Belfast Giants take part one of their double-header weekend with Coventry Blaze on Friday night.

With the opening period scoreless, the SSE Arena crowd had to wait until the 24th minute to see a goal - and when it came, it went to the visitors. Mitch Cook had two bites at a rebound from Blake Thompson's shot before getting the puck over Jackson Whistle's pad and into the net. A little under five minutes later, the Giants were level as Kohei Sato's wonderful pass put the puck straight on Oliver Cooper's stick to level in close at 27:03. Daniel Tedesco gloved the puck down and backhanded past Taran Kozun to put the Giants ahead at 29:08 after which Danny Stewart called his timeout.

Two goals in the opening seven minutes of period three put the game beyond the Blaze. Blake Speears made it 3-1 at 43:57, followed by former Blaze forward Ben Lake adding the Giants' fourth with just under 14 minutes to play. Kohei Sato rounded off the win with 5:41 left.