Belfast Giants came from behind to record a 3–1 home win over Cardiff Devils on Wednesday night.
Cardiff weathered early Giants pressure before taking the lead. Kristoff Kontos skated the puck out from his own end and threw it toward the crease, where it bounced off Garrett McFadden and into his own net to open the scoring with 8:09 played.
“The first period they came out hard and we kind of got caught by surprise,” admitted Giants forward Jordan Kawaguchi. “But once we’d figured it out, we went hard and took it from there. We’re starting to find our footing and our chemistry now.”
The Giants levelled midway through the second period when Mike Lee’s shot made its way through a screen provided by Jake Gaudet and into the net for the only goal of the frame.
With just over seven minutes to play in the third, Kawaguchi came out from behind the net and beat Ben Bowns at the near post to put the Giants ahead. “We’re down three defensemen, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt and it comes down to us going out there and battling harder,” he said.
Brandon Estes almost levelled on the next shift when his shot from the point took several deflections on its way to goal, but Jackson Whistle was alert to make the stop. Bowns denied Kawaguchi on a breakaway as the game entered its final two minutes before heading to the bench for the extra skater.
David Goodwin fired into the empty net with 53.4 seconds remaining to seal the win for the home side.
“It’s a huge win for us,” added Kawaguchi. “We have a tough week here with Nottingham and Sheffield away, so to get the first one against Cardiff is a really big one for our season.”
Photo: William Cherry
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