Giants extend lead in third

Photo: William Cherry

Belfast Giants extended their cushion in third-place to eight points with a 3-1 win over Guildford Flames in the first game of their double-header in front of 6,417 fans at the SSE Arena.

The home side scored two in the opening period to put themselves in a good position. Kohei Sato's hard work paid off with a shot high over Taz Burman with 9:13 played to open the scoring, while David Goodwin make it two with 4:58 left in the period.

Period two was without goals but not incident. A boarding major on Oliver Cooper led to his ejection from the game, followed by he and Bajkov also being given fighting penalties.

With just over ten minutes to play, Daniel Tedesco's shot was deflected past Burman by Goodwin to put the Giants a clear three in front entering the final stages of the game. With Burman pulled, Bradley Lalonde's shot beat Jackson Whistle five-hole to ruin the home goalie's shutout with 1:13 to go.