Heroic Giants Get Better of Flyers

First Period

Jake Kupsky was making his debut between the pipes for the Giants and he was given some early work by Justin Ducharme and Giordano Finoro with the latter of the two a wonderful stop on the breakaway. It took the Giants some time to trouble Shane Owen at the other end but a beautiful drop pass from Scott Conway teed up David Goodwin but he was denied.

However, the Flyers went back up the other end and, after Ian Scheid had been denied by another good Kupsky save, there was nothing the new Giant could do to stop Finoro who showed a lovely pair of hands in front of the net. (0-1)

This seemed to give the hosts a jolt and Mike Lee and Jordan Kawaguchi came close before Ben Lake hammered home a puck from right in front to tie the game (1-1). Karl Boudrias and Scheid then traded chances before Goodwin was sat down for a slashing call. Fife took full advantage of this with Anton Karlsson firing a warning shot before Johan Porsberger rifled home a shot from the left hash marks to send the visitors into the first intermission with the lead (1-2).

Second Period

The Giants came out of the locker rooms the quicker of the teams after the intermission and they were level again just 46 seconds in. It was Jake Gaudet who finished with a deflection off Owen having been teed up by JJ Piccinich. (2-2)

The hosts had a couple of chances to take the lead as they looked to capitalise on their momentum with Ciaran Long and Josh Roach both coming close. Ethan Somoza was then sent to the penalty box for hooking but the Flyers did well to kill the penalty before they had a big breakaway chance after returning to full strength. It was Keaton Jameson who broke at pace only to be denied by a super Kupsky save who then proceeded to deny Milan Lucic on the rebound too.

Jameson then took a seat for a cross-checking penalty and the Giants took advantage with a powerplay goal. After Gaudet and Nicolas Guay were digging around the net, the puck squirmed loose for Piccinich who couldn’t miss the gaping cage in front of him to give the hosts their first lead of the night (3-2)

Three minutes later Adam Keefe’s men would extend their lead thanks to a rapid breakaway led by Kawaguchi who fed Guay for a lovely finish as there was a bit of breathing room between the teams for the first time all night. (4-2) This prompted a response from the visitors as they had now fewer than three big chances to reduce the deficit but Porsberger and Karlsson couldn’t hit the target while Kupsky repelled Finoro.

Third Period

Piccinich went in search of his second and the Giants’ fifth early in the third but was denied by Owen as was Conway after being gifted the puck in front of the net. Gaudet and Long tried their luck next but it wasn’t all one-way traffic as Ducharme and Jameson tested Kupsky who held firm.

Gabe Bast had a couple of quick-fire opportunities before he was penalised for salshing with five minutes left on the clock. The visitors knew they would have to take advantage of this as the clock ticked down and they did as Lucic tipped home Scheid’s shot to reduce the deficit to one. (4-3)

Jamie Russell decided to drop his goalie for the extra skater and the Giants almost took advantage but Roach’s effort came back off the post before Kupsky had to make one more big save to secure a winning debut and make it he did as it was Jameson again who was thwarted by the Wisconsin-born goalie to secure the victory.

Up Next

The Giants are on the road for four games starting tomorrow at Coventry with a 5:30pm start. The next time Adam Keefe’s men are on home ice is Wednesday 18 February in the Challenge Cup semi-final second leg, also against the Blaze. There are limited tickets left, but they are selling fast, and you can get them here.