Giants Fall to Defeat at Skydome Arena

First Period

The first chance of the period came from former Giant Elijiah Barriga who saw his shot tipped over the bar by Alexis Gravel. Ryan Smith responded by forcing Mat Robson into a good save but the end-to-end nature of this game continued with Gravel again called into action to deny Adam Robbins.

The visitors killed a penalty served by Scott Conway for high-sticking but fell behind just before the midway point of the first. After Michael Pelech’s shot was parried, Artem Buzoverya was quickest to react to sweep home. (1-0)

The Blaze had another good chance thwarted when Gravel stopped Kim Tallberg’s shot before Belfast tied the game through their captain. Having been teed up by Reid Irwin, David Goodwin rifled home a powerful shot from the right hash marks that flashed past Robson. (1-1) Adam Keefe’s men pushed for the lead with Ciaran Long almost finishing a solo effort before they had the puck in the net only for the play to have been whistled dead just before.

Second Period

The visitors came out of the traps quickly in the second period and took the lead just over 90 seconds in. It came via the stick of captain Goodwin once again whose rasping drive flew past an unsighted Robson having been set up by Conway (1-2)

The Giants would extend their lead further just seconds after William Boysen came a post’s width away from levelling the game again. That goal for the visitors came from JJ Piccinich who, after the puck sprung loose after rattling the upright, raced away down the ice and finished well one-on-one past Robson to extend the lead (1-3)

The Blaze responded well and, after Sam Ruffin had a good chance stopped by Gravel, Carsen Twarynski took a seat for a holding the stick call. Kevin Moore’s men took full advantage of this with a goal from Jere Vertanen to halve the deficit (2-3)

The visitors had the better of the remainder of the period with a good breakaway chance spurned by Nicolas Guay before Mike Lee struck the crossbar. Piccinich then forced a stunning save from Robson which meant the lead was at one in favour of the visitors after 40 minutes of play.

Third Period

With just four seconds remaining in the second period, Twarynski took another penalty and the Blaze took advantage less than a minute into the third. It was Vertanen again as the Finnish defenceman smashed home another one-timer having been set up by Ruffin (3-3)

The visitors did their best to strike back with chances for Lee and Jordan Kawaguchi but the penalty would hurt them again as Ben Lake sat down this time for cross-checking. First Barriga almost tipped home Alessio Luciani’s shot before the latter of those two struck to give the hosts the lead back as they emulated the Giants by scoring three unanswered goals. (4-3)

Gabe Bast and Garrett McFadden had a pair of quick-fire chances to tie the game but they were both well stopped by Robson before Gravel denied another former Giant in Grant Mismash on the breakaway. Ultimately, though, the hosts held on for the victory and avenged November’s shootout defeat at The SSE Arena by the same scoreline.

Up Next

The Giants round off their road trip on Wednesday night with a visit to Dundee to take on the Stars before they are back on home ice for the first time in 2026 on Saturday 10 January against the Nottingham Panthers. That game starts at 7pm and tickets can be purchased here