Belfast Giants take a slender one-goal advantage to Glasgow on Sunday after a 1-0 win over Clan on Saturday night, needing 58 minutes to find the breakthrough.
“I think we kinda eased into the game a little bit,” began Giants goalie Jake Kupsky, who posted a shutout. “We didn’t really give them too much and played a pretty patient hockey game, then through the second half of the game I think we turned it on. Now we’ve got to keep playing hard like we did in the last 30.”
The first period ended with the deadlock yet to be broken, despite both sides having opportunities. Daniel Tedesco came closest to opening the scoring but watched his shot come back off the pipes. The Giants failed to take advantage of the powerplay, leaving the game scoreless at the interval.
The second period also ended scoreless, with both sides creating chances once again. Neither team could capitalise on the powerplay, and both netminders stood strong to keep the game level.
Belfast should have taken the lead in the third but opted for the extra pass, which saw Jordan Kawaguchi fan on his shot, while Carsen Twarynski drew an excellent save from Sami Aittokallio on a redirection. The deadlock was finally broken with 1:58 to go when Reid Irwin’s good work saw him throw the puck into the slot for Nicolas Guay to knock past Aittokallio and give the Giants a late lead.
Kupsky then pulled off a brilliant stop on the goal line with time running out as Clan almost tied the game at the death.
“We just need to stay patient. If we play the way we did in the second half tonight, I think we’ll get a good result tomorrow,” added Kupsky. “We just need to stay defence first, then our offence will generate from there.”
Photo: William Cherry
