Giants shut out Steelers, move clear in second
Photo: William Cherry
Belfast Giants avenged two road defeats in Sheffield earlier this season with a three-goal, shutout win over the Steelers in front of 6,339 fans at the SSE Arena.
"We're close in the standings with Sheffield and we know down the stretch that we're going to be a team that's gonna be up there in the standings, so I think this game means a lot for the guys... and also to claw back those two games earlier on in the year, to get one back at home now, is huge" said Scott Conway.
The atmosphere at the SSE was electric as the Giants returned home for the first time in several weeks. The hosts were on the front foot from the of and deserved to open the scoring. Pierre-Olivier Morin drove forward and hit a shot which was well saved by Matthew Greenfield, however, he couldn't do anything to deny Bobo Carpenter firing in the rebound to put the Giants a goal up at 10:50.
A deserved second goal came on the powerplay as Patrick Watling was penalised for interference. Gabe Bast's shot rebounded into the slot, Mark Cooper picked it up and managed to pick out Conway, who slammed the puck into the net to double the Giants' lead at 19:48. The Steelers were outshot 19-5 in the opening period.
"I think the guys were buzzing from the drop of the puck tonight. I think we didn't give them too much and I think we had a lot of chances and if we play like that we're a force to be reckoned with and I think that was one of our better games of the year," added Conway.
Sheffield began to come into the game as they put pressure on Belfast throughout the second period, forcing Tom McCollum into a number of great saves. The Giants were put under pressure on powerplay, but the Steelers couldn't capitalise as they score remained 2-0 going into the third period.
The all-important next goal came with just under 15 minutes to goal through Jordan Kawaguchi, putting the Giants three ahead.
That's how the score stayed to put the Giants second, and see the Steelers fall to fourth.
