Belfast Giants avoided their first three-game home losing streak in 11 years with a 5-4 win over Cardiff Devils on Sunday afternoon, splitting the weekend series with the Welsh side and maintaining their six-point lead at the top of the league.
“It was hard fought,” began Giants’ Scott Conway. “They came to play hard at the start, we knew they would especially after the last game. We needed a bounce-back game and I thought we played well. We gave them a couple of freebies which need to go, but at the end of the day we came away with the win.”
Cardiff grabbed an early goal to open the scoring for the second night in a row in Belfast through Riley Brandt. Cedric Lacroix found Brandt in the slot, who finished well past Jake Kupsky at 02:12.
However, the Giants responded within two minutes through Jake Gaudet. Gaudet drove into the right circle before producing a dinked finish past Ben Bowns at 03:48.
The Giants took the lead on the powerplay after Josh MacDonald was penalised for tripping. Carsen Twarynski’s shot from the right circle was saved by Bowns, but he could not stop Scott Conway slotting home the rebound at 18:43.
The hosts extended their lead early in the second period when Bo Hanson scored. David Goodwin found Hanson in the left circle and he beat Bowns at the near post at 24:44.
However, Cardiff pulled one back within two minutes as Brandt got his second of the night. Kristoff Kontos played a pass through the middle that left Brandt with only Kupsky to beat, and he finished clinically at 26:35.
Belfast restored their two-goal advantage through Ryan Smith. Ben Lake found Smith in the slot, who fired a one-timer past Bowns at 30:48.
“When you’re up you don’t have to force things and make plays as much as when you’re behind. We played a simple game for the majority of it and we got rewarded for it,” added Conway.
Cardiff struck back again as Brandt completed his hat trick. Kontos found him unmarked in the slot and Brandt finished well past Kupsky to bring the Devils back within one at 34:01.
The Devils spent the third period searching for an equaliser and called a timeout with 30 seconds remaining after pulling Bowns for the extra attacker with 64 seconds left.
Scott Conway fired into the empty net from his own zone with 24 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Giants, although Josh MacDonald scored for the Devils with 12 seconds left to make the final score 5-4.
Conway concluded: “That puts them a little further out of the race. We’ve just got to keep one foot in front of the other and continue to do what we do out there. If we keep winning, it’ll be hard for teams to catch us.”
Photo: William Cherry
