Giants Shutout Panthers To Claim Top Spot

Posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

The new look LBM Belfast Giants tonight defeated the Nottingham Panthers to move to top spot in the Elite League after shutout heroics from Stephen Murphy and man of the match and new addition Jeff Szwez.

An end to end first period got underway with a bang when Panthers Kevin Bergin accepted the challenge of Sean McMorrow and the two heavyweights dropped the gloves and traded punches at centre ice with only 6 seconds on the clock. Heavy hitting and a number of odd man rushes was the story of the first session with neither team able to break the deadlock.

With the teams returning to the ice for the second period the Giants looked the better side and only 3 minutes in Colin Shields converted yet another odd man rush. A return pass to Faubert was an option but Shields elected to go alone and smashed the puck through Kevin StPierre and as it turned out the back of the net as well. There was some uncertainty if the puck actually went between the pipes however referee Moray Hanson was well positioned and wasted no time in awarding the Giants the lead.

The Giants then found themselves 2 goals up a minute and a half later as debutant Jeff Szwez finished off a nice play created by Colin Shields and Brandon Benedict, picking up his own rebound to add the Giants second and in his first in a Belfast uniform.

With Sean McMorrow sitting a 2 minute penalty for holding Szwez showed why he has been touted as one of the best players in the league as he showed off the Giants new one man penalty kill. Szwez carried the puck deep into the Panthers zone and managed to fend off four Panthers players before weaving his way towards the net and forcing a save from the Nottingham goalie, despite the Panthers having the man advantage.

The third period was very much a mirror of the first as both sides found themselves deadlocked. As the Panthers pulled their netminder in an attempt to close the deficit Szwez dangled his way into the slot to add has second of the evening on an empty net goal to put the game out of reach and move the Giants into top spot.