Martin scores twice, Bowns blanks Giants in shootout
Photo: James Assinder
Ben Bowns stopped all four Belfast Giants shots in the shootout to earn Cardiff Devils a 4-3 win over Belfast Giants on Friday night. A sold-out Vindico Arena crowd saw the Devils get their first win over the Giants this season.
“We had our full team going tonight,” began Joey Martin, who scored two goals for the Devils. “If you look at the league standings, for us there wasn’t a lot to play for but we showed a lot of pride and character against a good team that’s going for the league title.”
A rapid start to the game saw a range of near misses for the Devils within the first few minutes of the period.
The home side looked the more likely to score, and did so when JJ Piccinich was given a tripping minor. Neat passing play involving Zach O’Brien set up Martin for a snipe over Tom McCollum’s shoulder to put the Devils one at 7:13, just 50 seconds into the penalty.
A late tripping call on Evan Mosey carried the Giants’ on-ice advantage over to the next period, but it was the hosts who led by one after 20 minutes.
The opening 10 minutes of period two were well-contested with the Devils again looking the more likely to score. When Bo Hanson was sent to the box for a checking to the head minor, the Devils’ powerplay leapt into action again – O’Brien shooting quickly off a Cole Sanford pass to make it 2-0 with 33:48 played,
Belfast started period three with a 5-on-3 advantage after minors on Martin and Jarrod Gourley at the end of the second. It took them just 49 seconds to get back into things as JJ Piccinich fed Mark Cooper across the zone to one-time past Bowns and make it a one-goal game.
The Giants could easily have been level with 14 minutes to go, but as the puck moved the other way McCollum stopped not only Josh MacDonald’s shot but his rebound attempt as well to keep the Giants just one behind.
Martin capitalised on a turnover by the Giants in their own end just a couple of minutes later to make it 3-1. MacDonald fed Martin to beat McCollum after Sanford had chased down his own clearance to beat our icing and the Devils were up by two with 10:47 to play.
McCollum’s triple save off chances for Gourley and Brad Schoonbaert prevented the Devils going further ahead, but the Giants were to get back within one again. While the Devils won the faceoff in their own end, the puck took a couple of weird bounces and fell kindly for Pierre-Olivier Morin to shoot home and make it a one-goal game again with just under nine minutes to play.
With 7:45 to go, it was 3-3. After chances in and around Bowns, Zak Galambos was left in too much space and picked his spot past the GB goalie to tie the game.
“We had to stay composed, that’s the word we were using,” continued Martin. “In the past few games, we’ve been a little frustrated and lost our cool a little bit, so the message was to stay composed and stick with it.”
The Giants looked the more dangerous team going into the final minutes, and a faceoff with seven seconds to go gave them the chance to draw up a play. The Devils, however, won it, and the game went to overtime.
Bowns was the star of overtime which ended scoreless. The Giants were handed a powerplay on a questionable slashing minor for Martin, but Bowns came up with a wonderful pad stop to keep the game alive. Galambos looked like he would have a chance to win it in the final seconds, but an excellent hit from Evan Mosey took the opportunity away.
In the shootout, Bowns stopped all four shots on him to give his team a chance to win. For the Devils, Josh MacDonald scored to put them ahead while Kohen Olischefski controlled a bobbling puck to score the second that won it in the final round.
“I’ve played with Ben for a long time so what he did there didn’t surprise me too much!” revealed Martin. “He’s one of the best goalies in my mind and we all have total confidence in him.”
