Giants keep out Blaze in league bow

First Period

The first period was one for the goalies as fine saves were made at both ends. The first chance of the game came the way of the Giants as Jordan Kawaguchi broke through on goal but couldn’t get the better of Evan Fitzpatrick. Morten Jensen had the Blaze tender frozen just moments later but his shot rattled off the bar and into the screen before Patrick Guay almost finished quickly off the draw but fired wide.

The Blaze responded well with a couple of quick-fire chances from Andrew Nielsen and William Boysen with the former firing wide and the latter into the side netting. Both stoppers then produced what were arguably their best saves of the period with Fitzpatrick denying David Goodwin and JJ Piccincih with a brilliant double save before Jake Kupsky showed incredible athleticism to move across his net to thwart Jaxson Ezman. The Giants’ Wisconsin-born goalie still had one more stop in him as he repelled Colby MacArthur late in the period to ensure the game entered the first intermission scoreless.

Second Period

The second period was another evenly-contested 20 minutes as the two goalies continued to dominate. First, Kupsky was called into action as he was able to deny Matthew Gleason with his skate before he stopped a goal-bound Boysen effort.

The Giants were struggling to get anything going offensively with their first effort on goal in the second coming almost halfway through the period. When the chances came, they came as a pair through Kaleb Pearson and Kawaguchi who both fizzed efforts wide. Soon after, though, the visitors’ aim would improve as they broke the deadlock on 32:38 through Jake Gaudet. The Ottawa-born forward was alert in front of the net and he tipped home a Mason Klee shot to open the scoring (0-1). The best the Blaze could muster in return was another Gleason effort after Marko Csollak’s shot was blocked as the rest of the period was interrupted by penalties on either side.

Third Period

Having taken their slender lead into the third period, the Giants had some defensive work to do early and Kupsky saved again from MacArthur. Having kept that effort out, Adam Keefe’s men went on the offensive to try to extend their lead but Fitzpatrick made more good saves from Klee and Cole Shudra.

The Giants goal was under siege again but the puck would not cross the line as Kupsky made a double stop from Ezman and Brett Perlini to preserve the advantage. Jensen and Ezman the exchanged efforts before the Blaze’s Newfoundland-born goalie gloved Christian Berger’s close-range shot. Despite a super performance of his own, Fitzpatrick was outgunned by Kupsky as the Giants stopped racked up his second shut-out of the young season.

Up Next

The Giants head to Cardiff tomorrow (Sunday) for their second Motorpoint Elite League game of the season before returning to home ice at The O2 Belfast on Saturday 17^th October. That game is a 7pm face-off and you can get tickets here.