Belfast Giants survived a late equaliser before striking twice in the final three minutes to beat Manchester Storm on Saturday night.
“They’re a good team. It’s a tough building to play in, especially on smaller ice,” said Giants forward Carsen Twarynski. “It was a little bit chippy, but they play a hard game. They stay on top of you and play simple. It was a big two points for us and we found a way to do it.”
Any early signs of travel fatigue were quickly erased when the Giants were forced to kill a penalty inside the opening three minutes, with Jackson Whistle producing an outstanding glove save to deny the Storm on the powerplay.
Belfast opened the scoring on their own man advantage as Twarynski redirected a point shot past Evan Weninger. Just under two minutes later, David Goodwin chipped the puck over Weninger’s blocker on a quick Giants attack to double the lead.
“I’ve been enjoying it,” added Twarynski. “They’ve been taking really good care of me. Tonight it should have been Whistle as MVP for sure. He kept us in it and if he doesn’t play the way he did, we lose by a handful of goals.”
Manchester responded in the second period. Sustained pressure off a strong forecheck led to a slapshot from the high slot to cut the deficit to one, before Dante Hannoun levelled the game with a toe-drag release that beat Whistle just ten seconds into a powerplay.
The Giants answered back quickly to restore their lead with a shot from near the faceoff circle through traffic, but the Storm tied the game again late in the period when Brandon Cutler spun and knocked home a loose puck with 1:32 remaining to make it 3-3 heading into the third.
Goodwin put Belfast back in front seven minutes into the final period, only for Hannoun to tie the game again with 4:15 to play. With overtime looming, Jordan Kawaguchi converted on the powerplay to give the Giants the lead with 2:37 remaining. Twarynski sealed the result with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Photo: Mark Ferris
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