Belfast Giants moved two points closer to the top three with an overtime win over Glasgow Clan on Tuesday afternoon. The point earned by Clan was their first at the SSE Arena this season, with 7,310 in attendance, after two Challenge Cup defeats there earlier in the campaign.
“I thought we played solid for 60 minutes tonight,” began Giants defenceman Mike Lee, who scored the overtime winner. “We lost a few battles in front of the net for them to score, but overall I thought we played pretty well and good enough to get the two points.”
Lucas Brine was alert to several early Giants chances, including one from a strange bounce, to keep the game scoreless. Rylan Schwartz had both of Clan’s best looks of the opening frame, testing Jackson Whistle, while Daniel Tedesco also forced a good save. Belfast eventually broke through with just over two minutes left in the first period when Ryan Smith finished a loose puck around Brine.
Clan began the second period strongly and equalised through Jason Fram at 28:29, deflecting Colton Poolman’s shot beyond Whistle. The Giants responded quickly. At 32:18 JJ Piccinich restored the lead, tapping in at the back post from a Gabe Bast feed, before Ben Lake fired into the roof of the net at 33:18 to make it 3-1. Fram struck again for Clan at 35:19, finishing a rebound from Schwartz to send the game to the break at 3-2.
Schwartz then got the decisive touch on a Miihkali Teppo shot at 46:32 to level the game early in the third period. Both sides had chances to win it in regulation, but the teams took a point each as the game headed to overtime.
In the extra period, the Giants needed only eight seconds to win it. Off the faceoff, Mike Lee carried the puck into the Clan zone and fired home from the circle to seal the extra point.
“It’s always good to score an overtime winner – no one would say they don’t want to get that goal!” joked Lee. “It was good for us to get that at the end.”
Photo: William Cherry
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