Giants Complete Four Point Weekend in Coventry

FIRST PERIOD

Brady Norrish knocked Belfast onto the back foot at 3:59, pulling the trigger on a lasered one timer from the right side of the blue line. (1-0)

Norrish was also first to the box, sitting for a tripping call at 4:18 which the Blaze special teams took care of.

The tying goal came at 17:26 when an in-form Scott Conway beat Blaze goalie Paavo Holsa in a crowded zone. (1-1)

In a further blow to Coventry, Nathanael Halbert was sent to the box for slashing in the immediate aftermath of the goal, landing them back onto the penalty kill at the drop.

There were only seven seconds of the Giants’ man advantage left when Conway’s pass to Sam Ruopp in the right circle was struck home for the go-ahead goal at 19:19. (1-2)

SECOND PERIOD

An aggressive Giants penalty kill shone in the opening minutes of the middle period, as Ben Lake’s interference call at 20:43 gave way to a spell of 5 on 3 kill when Mark Cooper sat for hooking at 22:11.

Darik Angeli’s tripping penalty at 28:37 was one too many for the visitors, however, as Nathanael Halbert took Johnny Curran’s puck and beat Giants goalie Peyton Jones on the power play at 29:51. (2-2)

Despite Belfast being handed a late power play when Brady Norrish was called for tripping at 36:03, the momentum belonged to the Blaze heading into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD

Scott Conway continued an offensively prolific weekend by striking the post in the opening 30 seconds of the final period.

The Giants special teams brushed off a Jeff Baum tripping penalty at 48:59, despite a gift for Coventry’s Jack Billings who found himself all alone in front of goal, but a confident Peyton Jones burst forward to take away the angle.

Belfast applied pressure on the power play when Peyton Frantti was sent to the box for hooking at 51:55 and should have scored as Gabe Bast pinged yet another puck off the post.

A Steve Owre tripping call at 53:23 overlapped Frantti’s penalty, leading to a short spell of 4 on 4, before Coventry’s power play unit took over.

However, Matt Foley had other ideas; crossing the blue line before cutting inside and sending a short-handed wrist shot through Holsa’s five hole at 53:57. (2-3)

Blaze head coach Danny Stewart called a time out with a minute and change left, leaving the net empty for a face off in the Belfast zone. However, Giants Captain David Goodwin rushed goalward with the help of Conway to ice proceedings just 13 seconds from time. (2-4)

UP NEXT

The Stena Line Belfast Giants return home to The SSE Arena, Belfast for a pre-Christmas clash with the Fife Flyers on Thursday 22^nd December at 7:00pm. Tickets are on sale HERE!

Images by Scott Wiggins.