Giants Laus out in first Switzerland clash

First period

The game began at a lightning fast pace and there were two goals on the board within the opening 76 seconds, Lausanne opening the scoring just 56 seconds in when the rebound from Austin Czarnik’s effort was rapped in by Drake Caggiula (1-0), but just 20 seconds later Patrick Grasso tied it up when he finished having been set away by Marcus Eriksson (1-1).

The chances kept coming as Lausanne came right back up the other end and hit the frame of the goal, while David Goodwin nearly connected with Scott Conway at the other end before Erik Brännström was boxed for interference, but Lausanne were the side who reclaimed the lead as Damien Riat was hooked back on the breakaway and Czarnik finished the resulting penalty shot at 6:15 (2-1).

But once more the Giants produced a quick response as Goodwin notched his third goal of the competition on the breakaway just 26 seconds later for the equaliser (2-2) and then Eriksson put the visitors ahead when he fired on goal from the high slot and found the gap in Hughes’ pads at 7:40 (2-3).

After the rapid start for both teams, the rest of the period appeared to be fairly uneventful by comparison, with the Giants playing out an interference call on Mike Lee, but right at the end of the period Ken Jäger tied it up with a fine shot from the slot at 18:48 (3-3) shortly after being denied by Alexis Gravel only moments before.

Second period

Some early Lausanne pressure saw the returning Karl Boudrias take the first penalty of the middle frame as he sat for hooking but the Giants killed off the early shorthanded period, but it would be the home side who would pull ahead at 25:34 as Jäger once again proved the danger, this time laying it off for Ahti Oksanen to finish five-hole on Gravel (4-3).

With the momentum, the home side set about trying to add to their lead and they did so at 29:40 as Czarnik got his second of the game, tapping in at the back post after a good feed from Riat (5-3), while it needed Gravel to be at his best to deny Caggiula shortly after as the former NHL star went on the clean breakaway.

But Caggiula would have the next laugh as he got a second breakaway and this time found the net from the left circle at 33:35 for the hosts’ sixth (6-3), with the Giants unable to answer before the second intermission.

Third period

An early penalty on Brännström for goaltender interference almost led to a second short-handed goal for the home side, only for Gravel to rob Theo Rochette’s one-timer, while Boudrias nearly got a goal on his first appearance of the season as he shot just over the crossbar after walking through traffic.

The home side continued to flex their muscles as Jason Fuchs hit the iron and they did add a seventh at 49:44 as Scott Conway was boxed for interference and, on the powerplay, Caggiula completed his treble when he was able to poke in the rebound in close to round off the scoring (7-3).