Posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 4:14 pm
In the biggest game of the season, it was new Captain Colin Shields that stepped up with a 2 goal and 2 assist game to lead the LBM Belfast Giants over the Nottingham Panthers on Friday Night at the Odyssey Arena. A double from both Shields and from sniper Craig Peacock as well as goals from Mike Jacobsen and Steve Thornton
Shields won the battle between the league’s top scorers with his 4 point effort, which has moved him into a tie for the league scoring lead with the Panther’s Jade Galbraith. Craig Peacock picked the biggest match of the season to have the best performance of his young career with a man of the match performance scoring two goals to lead the LBM Belfast Giants over the Nottingham Panthers by a scoreline of 6-3 on Friday Night at the Odyssey Arena.
It took just 6 minutes for the Giants to open the scoring when Brandon Benedict found Colin Shields alone in the front of the net, who fired home the opener for his 17th goal of the season. Peacock doubled the lead for the Giants at 12:43 into the first period when he rocketed a shot past Kevin St. Pierre in goal for the Panthers. The scoreline stayed 2-0 after the first period.
The newest Panther, Mario Larocque netted his first goal of the season at 24:32 to pull the Panthers back into the game. Then with Jeffrey Szwez tossed out of the game for cross-checking and the Giants down two men on a 5 on 3 powerplay for the Panthers, it was David Clarke who tied the game at 30:29 with his 12th of the season.
The momentum shifted throughout the second period with the Panthers getting the majority of the chances on goal, and some sloppy play by the Giants defence led to the Panthers taking the lad for the first time of the night. Sean McAslan finished off a pass from Jade Galbraith and tucked the puck over the shoulder of Stephen Murphy to make it 3-2 in favour of the Panthers. The traveling fans barely had time to celebrate because less than a minute later, Shields made a picture perfect pass on to the stick of Steve Thornton who snuck his stick behind the Panthers’ defence to tip in his first goal of the season.
The Giants were not done there and the biggest goal of the game came at 38:25 on a 5-3 advantage for the Giants when Michael Jacobsen scored the eventual game winner with a bullet from the blueline that screamed past a helpless St.Pierre.
Heavy pressure kept coming throughout the third period from the Panthers but Stephen Murphy stood tall in net for the Giants once again. The insurance goal came at 58:42 when Craig Peacock scored his second of the night and his 13th of the season before Shields scored into the empty net in the dying seconds to give the Giants a 6-3 win.
Game Notes:
Colin Shields scored 2 goals to give him 18 on the year, which leads the league. Shields also added 2 assists, to tie the overall league scoring lead with the Panthers’ Jade Galbraith. Both players have 40 points, although Shields has played one less game than Galbraith.
Craig Peacock has 13 goals on the season, which puts him in 5th place overall in goal scoring in the entire league.
Post Game Comments from Coach Thornton:
“I was very pleased with our overall team performance tonight. I thought our penalty killing unit did a superb job against one of the most lethal powerplays in the league. That was a huge confidence booster for us going into their rink tonight but we expect them to come out even stronger in front of their home fans.”
Thornton on Shields and Peacock:
“I think having the captaincy has given Colin a role outside of just being a great player on the ice. He has really stepped up this season, particularly since we gave him the ‘C’. He has been our most consistent player all season long and showed tonight that he can score the big goals in the big games. He also threw a monster hit that got the whole team excited. He doesn’t hit often but when your Captain who isn’t the biggest guy is out there running over guys, it makes everyone think that they should be playing with the same emotion.”
“Peacock is making me look very smart for signing him from the league below. He is a natural scorer, you can see how he shoots and how hard he does it that he is a pure sniper. He has now adjusted to the faster game in the Elite League and his timing is better, so he is getting more chances. He paid the price against the Panthers, threw some big hits and out muscled guys in the corners, something that he wasn’t able to do earlier in the season. That was the best game I have seen him play all year.”
Period Scores: 2-0, 3-2, 2-0
Penalty Mins: Bel 39 Not 14
Powerplay: Bel 1/6 Not 1/7
Shots on: Stephen Murphy 33 – Kevin St. Pierre 33 + 1 ENG
Referee: Tom Darnell
© 2008 Belfast Giants Limited, unless otherwise stated. Imagery © Michael Cooper Photography.
