The Stena Line Giants weren’t courteous hosts on Friday night, laying down their biggest beating of a season on the Dundee Stars by a score of 7-2.
It was a full team effort as seven different Giants — Lewis Hook, Matt Pelech, Jordan Smotherman, Liam Morgan, Jean Dupuy, Patryk Wronka and Jesse Forsberg put the puck in the back of the net. The victory gave the Giants back-to-back wins in league play for the first time since the beginning of the month.
Starting Strong
Mid-way through the first frame, Lewis Hook forced a turnover at the blueline and fired a cross-zone pass to Patryk Wronka who was busting up the middle of the ice. Wronka corralled the puck and quickly deked out goalie Alex Leclerc, sliding a puck between his five-hole to take a 1-0 lead. The goal was Wronka’s first in league play on the season.
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Despite the Giants carrying the play, the Stars would manage to get themselves on the board and knot the game at 1-1 shortly after as Matt Marquardt came out from the corner and roofed a shot past Shane Owen.
The momentum wouldn’t shift in Dundee’s favour. Shortly after allowing the game to be tied, the Giants restored their one-goal lead. They hammed the puck down low and generated multiple scoring chances before Jordan Smotherman finally fired a snipe from the face-off circle over Leclerc’s glove.
The Giants would extend their lead to 3-1 just before the end of the period. After Dundee took a two-minute penalty for hooking, Smotherman stormed into the zone and carried the puck into the crease. A scrum would ensue in front of the net with the puck rolling along the crease for a couple of seconds before Liam Morgan tipped it home.
The goals by Smotherman and Morgan were each their third in league play on the year, putting them both in a tie with Curtis Hamilton for the team lead in goals.
The Floodgates Open
That two-goal lead wouldn’t last long. Just 33 seconds into the second period, Dundee made the score 3-2 when Elgin Pearce picked up a rebound off of a shot from Anthony Beauregard and fired it past Owen. The Stars would continue to press in the early second period, but Owen stood tall to preserve the one-goal lead.
Yet again, the Giants would answer back. At 27:13, Matt Pelech picked the puck up in the neutral zone, plowed past a Dundee defender, dragged the puck across the slot, and waited out a sprawling Leclerc before firing a backhand into the yawning cage. The goal was the captain’s second in league play this season and it gave him goals in back-to-back games.
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As they did in the first, the Giants would add another late-period goal to extend their lead. At 37:06, Lewis Hook ripped a puck past Leclerc to make it 5-2. In the aftermath, Elgin Pearce of the Stars would take a two-minute penalty for slashing, giving the Giants a chance to extend their lead further. After working the puck around the zone, Pelech ripped a clapper from the point that Jean Dupuy tipped past Leclerc, making the score 6-2.
Cruising To The Win
The Stars rolled into the third period clearly frustrated by the result thus far. Elgin Pearce spent an entire penalty kill looking for a fight to charge up his teammates and Jean Dupuy answered the bell. Unfortunately for Pearce, the plan backfired as Dupuy got the best of him, earning the takedown.
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— Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) October 25, 2019
Despite their lead on both the goal and fight clock, the Giants kept pouring it on. A Dundee defender tried to clear the puck from behind the net, but it bounced off of Smotherman’s leg and right to the point for Jesse Forsberg, who ripped a wrist-shot past Leclerc to make the score 7-2. The goal was Forsberg’s first in league play this season.
Belfast would cruise through the rest of the third period on the way to a 7-2 victory. The seven goals represented the most the Giants have put on the board in a single game this season and it also gave them back-to-back league wins for the first time since the beginning of October. The Giants now own a 4-1-2 record in league play on the season.
Next Up?
The Giants will finish their weekend on the road with a key road game in Manchester with the Storm. They’ll be on the road for a Wednesday night game in Fife with the Flyers before returning to SSE Arena on Saturday to begin a home-and-home with the Coventry Blaze – tickets are available online now at ticketmaster.ie.
