Awesome Alexis Helps Giants Blank Flyers

First Period

It was the visitors who had the first real sighting of goal in this one as Jake Gaudet and Ciaran Long fired shots just wide of the net. However, it was Gravel at the other end who made the first save as he denied Keaton Jameson and recovered to stop Josh Winquist on the rebound too.

Long was then sent to the penalty box for hooking but the Giants killed the penalty with minimal fuss as a Logan Neilson shot held by Gravel was all the hosts could muster with their man advantage. Carsen Twarynski and Gabe Bast then both troubled Shane Owen at the other end but could not beat him before Gravel produced the save of the game so far repelling Neilson as he broke away one-on-one. That meant we would go into the first intermission scoreless.

Second Period

The Flyers had a good opportunity early in the second when Justin Ducharme’s shot from a narrow angle was well stopped by Gravel. Andrew McLean was then sent to the penalty box for a Delay of Game penalty and the Giants had a couple of chances to open the scoring with the man advantage. First, Mike Lee had a shot well held by Owen before Bast’s shot took a big ricochet off the back boards and landed at the feet of Scott Conway but Owen made a good stop.

Just over two minutes after the unsuccessful powerplay, the Giants opened the scoring thanks to JJ Piccinich. The New Jersey-born forward glided into the Fife zone and hammered home a shot that popped the water bottle out of the net and gave the visitors the lead (0-1).

Long then served his second penalty of the game for interference but it too was killed before David Godwin had a big chance go begging for a second goal. Jonas Emmerdahl then made a brave block on Conway’s goal-bound effort as Adam Keefe’s men continued to push. It wasn’t all one-way traffic though and the hosts had a couple of efforts of their own with the best one coming when Jameson laid off a nice drop pass to Ian Scheid but his effort whizzed wide of the post.

Third Period

Both sides’ penalty kills had been excellent all night and a penalty was killed by each of them again early in the third with Ben Lake’s tripping penalty and Jeremy Masella’s roughing penalty each passing by with little to no incident.

The Giants had chances through Twarynski as well as Bast and Conway before Neilson tried his luck at the other end. However, the second goal did eventually come just after the midway point of the third period. It was Bast again digging around the Flyers’ net as the Alberta-born defenceman forced Owen to tip his shot on to the post only for Conway to rifle home the rebound (0-2).

Piccinich then should have made it three shortly after when he flicked a shot over the top before Twarynski succeeded where his team-mate could not. He pounced on a loose puck in centre ice and drove on the net, finishing well through the legs of Owen (0-3).

This took the sting out of a spirited performance from Mike Courts’ side but they still went in search of a late goal to spoil the shut-out. They came very close to getting one too as both Neilson and Winquist struck the ironwork before Ethan Somoza forced a good save from Gravel but, ultimately, the Quebec-born goalie secured the shut-out and the Belfast secured a four-point weekend.

Up Next

The Belfast Giants head into a massive week with three home games at The SSE Arena, Belfast. The Cardiff Devils come to town for a double-header on Saturday and Sunday, but not before the rearranged Challenge Cup semi-final second leg with the Coventry Blaze on Wednesday. Limited tickets remain for that one, and you can purchase them here.