Giants Denied Win By Devils

Despite goals from Oliver Cooper, Ben Lake and Josh Roach, the Giants were beaten by the Welsh side in the first two periods and couldn’t mount enough of a comeback in the third, falling to a defeat in front of a sold-out home crowd.

First period

The Giants were on the back foot early as Henrik Eriksson took an early slashing penalty and Cole Sanford made them pay at 3:26 with a fine top shelf finish from the right circle (0-1), and the visitors almost doubled their lead when a scramble around the net saw the puck strike the post.

Ben Bowns did well to deny Daniel Tedesco’s effort in the slot but the visitors were still the more dangerous and they doubled their lead at 10:52 when Evan Mosey’s shot from the point was tipped in by Cole Ully (0-2).

Even when the Giants got a chance on the powerplay as Josh Waller was penalised for tripping, the best chances were falling to Cardiff and Trevor Cox had a huge opportunity to extend their lead shorthanded when he went in one-on-one on Tyler Beskorowany, but fired wide, although Tedesco would hit the post with seconds left in the frame.

Second period

The Devils would extend their lead just 1:12 into the middle period as Sanford drove the pass to the doorstep for Mosey to tip in (0-3) and Tyler Busch added the fourth just 48 seconds later as he was fed in front for the backhand finish on the doorstep (0-4), which saw Jackson Whistle enter the game in relief of Beskorowany.

The Giants did get on the board at 24:54 when they got the powerplay as Busch was called for slashing and Cooper picked up the puck at the doorstep and roofed the puck (1-4) but another powerplay for Sanford’s hooking minor would lead to a shorthanded goal the other way as Cox broke away and beat Whistle five-hole at 29:54. (1-5)

Belfast would pull another one back at 33:34 when David Goodwin dished the puck across the face of goal for Lake to snap home the one-timer (2-5) and they nearly grabbed another just before the second intermission as a rebound off Cooper’s initial effort dropped onto the stick of Sean Norris but he was denied by a brilliant stop from Ben Bowns.

Third period

A bright start to the final period from the Giants saw Goodwin fire through the crease after creating some good space down the left, while at the other end Whistle had to stand tall when Ryan Barrow went in unopposed on the netminder but the Great Britain international saved with his pads.

Belfast did make it a two-goal game at 47:11 when Jeff Baum found Roach driving into the right circle and he beat Bowns up high (3-5) and the Giants continued to pile on the pressure, with Tedesco nearly finding the net when a Cardiff pass in their own zone was batted out of the air by Goodwin.

But that would be as good as it would get for the home side. Despite piling on the pressure on the powerplay after a Marcus Crawford holding call, it would be the Devils who would wrap things up as Ully grabbed his second with an empty netter at 58:11 (3-6) to round off the scoring.

Next up

The Stena Line Belfast Giants get an immediate chance at revenge in the second game of their double-header with the Devils on Sunday February 4, followed by a Scottish road trip to the Glasgow Clan on Saturday February 10 and Dundee Stars on Sunday February 11.

Tickets available here.