Posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
An empty net goal in the dying seconds sealed the victory for the LBM Belfast Giants in Edinburgh on Sunday Night. Goals came from Brandon Benedict, Evan Cheverie and Pat Bateman as the Giants jumped past the Coventry Blaze into top spot in the Elite league standings, setting up a weekend double header with the Blaze starting this Saturday Night at the Odyssey Arena.
Sunday Night saw the Edinburgh Capitals come out strong in the opening period of play, but netminder Stephen Murphy in goal for the Giants stood tall turning away 10 shots he faced. Despite a strong start from the Capitals, it was the Giants that scored first, although it took until the second period to break the deadlock. Brandon Benedict finished off a Jeffrey Szwez pass to put the Giants up 1-0 at 25:14. Seven minutes later Evan Cheverie doubled the lead when he scored to make it 2-0. The Giants could not get anything else past Cody Ridkowsky in net for the Capitals, who was outstanding on the night, facing 34 shots. At the other end, Murphy was simply amazing and looked certain for another shutout but with just over three minutes remaining, the Capitals burst the bubble when Mark Smith scored to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Capitals kept pressing but to no avail and with 20 seconds remaining and the Capitals goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Pat Bateman scored the empty netter to seal the victory for the Giants.
The win saw the Giants move past the Coventry Blaze into first place who lost on Sunday to the Sheffield Steelers.
The second win in three days for the Giants was exactly what the team needed heading into this weekend’s clash with the Coventry Blaze, according to coach Steve Thornton:
“We are staring the three biggest games of the season in the face right now, including the first leg of the Challenge Cup Semi Final on Wednesday and then of course the double header with Coventry that is the showdown of the two best teams in the league right now. We could not have asked for a more positive weekend going into these three games. We are scoring goals at home and we played a tight road game and came away with a win on Sunday. I will be giving the guys plenty of time to rest this week, but they are going to be tired come Sunday, but three wins would make their Christmas a whole lot happier.”
© 2008 Belfast Giants Limited, unless otherwise stated. Imagery © Michael Cooper Photography.
