Dan's the Man as Giants Down Salzburg in Thrilling Overtime Victory

The Italian winger produced a sensational finish right at the end of the extra period to secure the second point for the Giants and set up a must-win clash against Czech side HC Dynamo Pardubice next Wednesday for a place in the last-16 of Europe for the first time in the club’s history.

FIRST PERIOD

The speed of the Austrians gave them a chance inside the first 25 seconds as Thomas Raffl got in behind the Giants defence and he flipped a backhand effort on net that was saved by Beskorowany, while the home side played out the first two penalties of the game as Jacob Friend was called for interference and Miles Gendron sat for holding.

After scoring twice against Guildford at the weekend, Jeff Baum was nearly the unlikely opening goalscorer for the Giants as he dangled his way down the middle and fired on Atte Tolvanen on the backhand but the netminder made the save before things started to get chippy towards the end of the period.

The final three minutes of the frame were beset by penalties, Salzburg seeing Paul Stapelfeldt (interference), Dennis Robertson (holding) and Phillip Sinn (interference) head to the box, as did Greg Printz (roughing) for the Giants, but the two sides headed in at the intermission scoreless.

SECOND PERIOD

Belfast started the middle period on the 5-on-3 powerplay but their best chance fell to Kohei Sato after Salzburg had returned to their full complement, Oliver Cooper putting the puck back in front for the Japanese centre but his shot went straight into the midriff of Tolvanen, before the visitors played out an interference call against Benjamin Nissner.

The chances kept falling the way of the Giants and a Salzburg giveaway in front of goal presented Daniel Tedesco with a big chance to break the deadlock but the winger was only able to put his backhanded effort into the chest of Tolvanen before the home side did well to kill off a Printz penalty after he delayed the game by flicking the puck over the plexi.

A Giants powerplay for Peter Schneider’s boarding was cancelled out by a roughing call against Ben Lake before the end of the period became the Beskorowany show as he made a set of back-to-back stops to deny Lukas Schreier and then an incredible save to deny Ryan Murphy as Florian Baltram fed him what looked to be a back door tap-in on the breakaway.

THIRD PERIOD

A late too many men call at the end of the second period and then a high-sticking penalty against Baltram put the Giants on another 5-on-3 powerplay but they couldn’t convert, although it needed a big stop from Tolvanen to deny Johnny Curran’s powerful right circle one-timer.

At the other end, Beskorowany was also involved, having to stand tall to catch a Chay Genoway blast from the right circle, and he then did likewise to deny Mario Huber as Salzburg pressed on a Friend cross-checking penalty, while Miles Gendron almost went coast-to-coast on another Giants powerplay as Ali Wukowits sat for tripping.

But a crucial 5-on-3 penalty kill would help the Giants take the game to overtime as first Printz was called for slashing and then Travis Brown was sent to the box for tripping as well, but the penalty kill came up huge one more time to end regulation scoreless and send it to the extra period.

OVERTIME

Beskorowany made a huge save to deny Peter Schneider early in the extra period, the Austrian international reversing onto the puck in front of goal and shooting but the goaltender saving, and then he had to make another big save to rob Thomas Raffl as the puck broke to the centre on the doorstep.

And Tedesco would reward him with a huge goal at just the right time, the winger playing the one-two with Quinn Preston and dragging the puck around Tolvanen to finish on the backhand for the game-winner with just 4.4 seconds left on the clock to send the SSE Arena wild. (0-1)

Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants return to Challenge Cup and Elite League action with a double-header against the Fife Flyers at the SSE Arena on Friday and then in Kirkcaldy on Saturday, before they finish their Champions League campaign against HC Dynamo Pardubice on home ice next Wednesday.