Giants Storm Past Manchester

First Period

The Giants came out of the traps quickly and Jordan Kawaguchi was denied from a narrow angle early on. However, Mike Lee succeeded from a similar angle with a hard one-timer less than two minutes in for a rapid start (1-0)

The Storm did well to stem the early flow and had some chances of their own soon after with Jackson Whistle stopping efforts from JD Dudek and Gary Haden. Lee then had a couple of chances to extend his and his team’s tally but couldn’t do so and the visitors were able to tie it up. Rais Francis pounced on a loose puck in centre ice and did well to finish one-on-one despite coming under pressure (1-1)

The hosts did have the puck in the net again when JJ Piccinich forced a puck home from close range after Drew DeRidder parried a David Goodwin effort. However, a video review ruled the goal out and we stayed tied for the time being.

Jake Gaudet then saw his effort tipped into the boards behind which allowed Manchester to break away and Nick Welsh was denied by Whistle. However, the hosts had the puck in the net again and this one counted. Bo Hanson’s shot took a nick off a Storm defender in front of the net and nestled behind DeRidder to send the home crowd into the first intermission happy. (2-1)

Second Period

The Storm did well to kill a penalty early in the second when Harrison Caines was sat down for hooking. During that time, the Giants’ best chance came through Kawaguchi whose shot was saved while Lee couldn’t quite dig out the puck in front off the rebound.

Ryan Smith was keen to build on his pair of goals from the previous night and had a shot saved by DeRidder before Scott Conway’s rebound came back off the post. Most of the pressure was towards the Storm goal and Piccinich found Goodwin in front, but the captain couldn’t quite get the puck out of his feet, and it was swept away. Despite another effort from Piccinich and Nicolas Guay flicking over the top, there would be no goals in a physical second period.

Third Period

Carsen Twarynski had been putting himself about all game and had a couple of quick-fire chances early in the third with one saved and one wide. At the other end, the visitors had an opportunity of their own, but Tyler Hinam couldn’t connect with Stephen Johnson in front of goal.

Brandon Cutler had been a thorn in the Giants’ side all game and fired a couple of shots wide before Gaudet and Smith troubled DeRidder at the far end. Karl Boudrias also put a puck on net but the home side would soon extend their lead after great work from Kawaguchi. He put a lovely reverse drop pass onto the stick of Gaudet and he clinically hammered home a one-timer to open the lead to two. (3-1).

Manchester responded with chances for Dennis Busby and Haden before Cam Critchlow dropped his goalie for an extra skater. Having scored into an empty net from well inside his own zone the night previously, Smith almost repeated the feat only to be denied by the post. However, the hosts were not to be denied their fourth and, after Smith sprang him free, Ben Lake fired into the empty cage to seal the victory (4-1)

Up Next

Next weekend sees a huge double-header as the Sheffield Steelers visit Belfast for the first time this year. Game one is on Friday night before part two the night after and you can get tickets for both games here.