Giants keep race for second alive

Photo: James Assinder

Belfast Giants kept the race for second alive with a two-goal victory on the road against Cardiff Devils.

Jackson Whistle in the Giants net was a large part of the reason why the visitors were leading after the opening 20 minutes, pulling off no less than three excellent saves as he slide from one post to another. Josh Roach put them ahead with a shot form the wing that took a couple of bounces and beat Tyler Wall with 3:04 played. Josh Batch levelled on a 2-on-0 opportunity to tie the game a little over ten minutes later, but Daniel Tedesco had the Giants back ahead wit 4:07 left in the period.

The Devils were forced to kill an early Trevor Cox minor, but rather than falling further behind the levelled things up again - Evan Mosey converting on the breakaway at 24:23. Some 90 seconds later, Trevor Cox batted a looping puck into Whistle's net from behind the Giants goalie to put the Devils ahead - Adam Keefe called his timeout to steady the visitors. That worked with Greg Printz tipping a Cullen shot past a stranded Wall at 31:51 to make it three each. 

Belfast were the only team to score in the final period, netting two which were enough to win it. David Goodwin's pass at the second attempt found Ben Lake in the slot to fire past Wall and put the visitors ahead with 5:21 to play. 127 seconds later, Tedesco shot low past Wall, one the Devils' goalie would want back, to give his team a two-goal cushion heading into the final stages. Cardiff pulled Wall for the extra skater on a late powerplay with 39 seconds to go, but Whistle wasn't to be beaten again and backstopped his team to a 5-3 win.