Belfast Giants continued their charge towards the top of the Elite League with a 4-1 home win over Manchester Storm at the SSE Arena.
“I thought the guys did a really good job. You could see in the first period especially we were staying high and shutting down any chances they had and we kinda took over the game as it went on,” said Jackson Whistle. “Obviously they were battling and hung in there to make it a 2-1 game and we were lucky to get that third goal to get a bit of breathing room. ”
The Giants took an early lead through Mike Lee. After good work to create time and space, he finished well from the right circle past Drew DeRidder at 01:11.
It was a feisty start to the game and, just 28 seconds later, Bradley Jenion and Carsen Twarynski were both penalised for fighting, while Gabe Bast was also sent to the box or something he said.
Manchester found an equaliser shortly after at 04:33. Raison Francis capitalised after Ryan Smith turned the puck over in the neutral zone, driving in one-on-one with Jackson Whistle and finishing well to level the game.
The Giants thought they had restored their lead when JJ Piccinich scored on the rebound from David Goodwin’s shot, but following a coach’s challenge the goal was ruled out for goaltender interference. Belfast did regain the advantage at 16:24 when Bo Hanson’s shot from the left circle took a deflection and beat DeRidder.
The Giants largely controlled the second period, though neither side was able to add to the scoring. Scott Conway came closest for the home side when his rebound attempt following a Smith shot struck the post. Belfast were unable to make their power play count, and carried a one-goal lead into the final period.
Storm had more of the puck early in the third, but while they worked Jackson Whistle, they were unable to seriously test the Giants’ netminder.
Ryan Smith raced away on a breakaway with just over ten minutes to play but was denied by DeRidder. At 9:39 remaining, the puck fell kindly to Jake Gaudet, who fired past DeRidder to restore Belfast’s two-goal cushion.
Storm called a timeout with 3:33 to play and pulled DeRidder as play restarted. They were fortunate moments later when Smith hit the post on the empty net, but on the next play Ben Lake was sent through and made no mistake to wrap up the win for the Giants.
“Super important,” said Whistle of the Giants’ two wins this weekend. “Obviously if you win two then drop two it’s a missed opportunity so the two points were huge for us tonight.”
Photo: William Cherry
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