Giants Sink Stingrays To Stay On Top

Posted on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 12:54 am

The Stena Line Belfast Giants finished off a perfect road weekend with a 3-1 win over the Stingrays on Sunday Night in Hull to keep their unbeaten road record in tact.

The opening 20 minutes of play was all Giants as the visitors outshot their hosts 21 to 3 but despite the one-sided shot count, it took until the final minute of the period for the Giants to break the 0-0 deadlock.  With Mark Garside serving a 2 minute minor for hooking, the penalty killing tandem of Adam Keefe and Darryl Lloyd went to work, with Lloyd scoring short handed to make it 1-0 with Keefe and Ryan Crane picking up the assists.

The Stingrays came to life in the second period outshooting the Giants 14 to 10. Their hardwork paid off at the 16:06 mark when Kurtis Dulle scored his first of the season to even the scoreline at 1 goal apiece.  The period ended with the momentum shifting to the Stingrays who were putting in an impressive performance in front of their home crowd.

The third period started the way the second period finished, with the Stingrays taking the momentum away from the Giants with plenty of shots on goal but Stephen Murphy was simply outstanding in net, turning away all 19 shots he faced in the final period of play.  At the other end, Christian Boucher was equally spectacular, and with five minutes remaining in the game, it looked like this goaltending battle was destined for overtime.  With just over 4 minutes to play, Benoit Doucet finally got one past Boucher after a pass from Adam Keefe to make it 2-1.  The Stingrays pressed hard in the final minutes, but the Giants defence stepped up to the challenge keeping the Stingrays at bay.