Beskorowany Goes Down a Storm in Shutting Out Manchester

First period goals from Josh Roach and Travis Brown set the Giants on their way, with Beskorowany shutting the door at the other end to allow Speers to slot home into the empty net for the win.

First period

The Giants showed their intent early with a cavalcade of chances, Will Cullen’s one-timer from the right circle off Kohei Sato’s pass saved by Evan Weninger, before Sean Norris nearly set up Ben Lake only for the puck to bounce over his stick, with Matt McLeod and Lake denied with chances in close.

But a hooking call against Stephen Johnson just after Sato flashed a chance wide from the left circle led to the opener at 7:46 as Roach lasered in the powerplay goal from the point (1-0) and then Brown doubled the lead at 10:19 when Sato was denied at the crease but the defenceman - playing centre - was able to put in the rebound. (2-0)

The Giants had to dig deep when Bobby MacIntyre (tripping) and David Phillips (boarding) headed off to give the visitors a 5-on-3 powerplay, and Zack Phillips was denied by Beskorowany to keep them off the board, with Roach close to a second when he struck the bar, while Tyler Hinam’s snapshot was gloved down by Beskorowany in the dying stages.

Second period

The Storm were the brighter side in the early exchanges in the second period, aided by Lake’s hooking penalty that allowed Hinam to fire just wide, and even when Manchester defenceman Matt Murphy was boxed for illegal equipment it was the visitors who came closer to scoring as Johnson nearly set up Michael Korol but he couldn’t quite connect.

Jeff Baum, on a rare foray up the ice, almost scored as he iced around multiple Storm players but saw his effort blocked by Weninger, while a Korol tripping minor started with Samuel Tremblay hitting the post with a backhanded effort on the shorthanded breakaway.

The Giants did think they had added a third on that same powerplay, David Goodwin crashing a shot off the crossbar and seemingly over the line, but the officials determined it didn’t break the threshold after head coach Adam Keefe challenged the call, and the home side were able to play out the delay of game penalty they took for a failed challenge.

Third period

Manchester once again came out bright in the third period and Loren Ulett almost made it a one-goal game in spectacular fashion when he cut in from the left and went between the legs but Beskorowany saved, while Goodwin almost scored a similarly surprising goal when he banked the puck off Weninger from behind the net but it went through the crease and away to safety.

Storm were unable to capitalise on a MacIntyre slashing minor midway through the period as the visitors pressed to get back into it, while at the other end Ciaran Long had a snapshot gloved down by Weninger as the home side similarly tried to see the game off as a contest.

A late Ulett high-sticking penalty knocked off some time for Belfast, while they survived Cameron Critchlow getting in on Beskorowany but firing wide, and when Weninger was pulled for the extra skater there was Speers to slide the puck into the empty cage with 30.1 seconds remaining to make the result safe. (3-0)

Next Up

The Stena Line Belfast Giants welcome the Fife Flyers to The SSE Arena, Belfast on Saturday 24 February before an away trip to the Nottingham Panthers on Sunday 25 February. Get tickets HERE.