Late Show Helps Giants Storm to Win in Altrincham

The forward pair both struck twice in a full-blooded affair that saw the Giants never trail but pegged back three times, however further goals from Marcus Eriksson and Jordan Kawaguchi settled the affair for Adam Keefe’s side.

First Period

An early tripping call on Garrett McFadden meant the Giants had to do some early penalty killing and they needed Jackson Whistle to make a remarkable sprawling save to rob Kaleb Ergang on the powerplay, and it was on their first man advantage of their own that Belfast forged ahead, a slashing call on Nicholas Welsh resulting in Twarynski tipping in Mike Lee’s shot for the opener at 5:30 (0-1).

Gary Haden had two excellent chances to equalise for Manchester immediately after the goal, a bad turnover from the Giants presenting the puck to him in the slot but he fired over, then sent another promising effort straight at Whistle, and at the other end Goodwin made him pay as he doubled the Giants’ lead at 7:56 when he flicked the puck in off JJ Piccinich’s backhand pass (0-2).

Whistle was still being kept busy, needing to scramble to keep out a Dante Hannoun effort right on the line and then surviving some relentless Storm pressure at the end of the period after Gabe Bast had come close to adding a third for Belfast, skating into the zone and cannoning a one-timer just over the crossbar.

Second Period

The Storm got off to a quick start in the middle frame and pulled one back just 2:15 in as a puck squirted back into the high slot for Welsh to rip into the top corner on the one-timer (1-2), while Evan Weninger made an incredible save on a Ben Lake rebound off the backboards to prevent the Giants from immediately reclaiming their two-goal lead.

Manchester continued their strong second period as they equalised at 32:06 when Reid Irwin was called for holding and Hannoun rifled in from the right circle on the powerplay (2-2), but the tie game lasted just 25 seconds as Eriksson responded straight away, finding a pocket of space on the edge of the right circle and beating Weninger low (2-3).

The Giants were so close to making it a two-goal lead again when Piccinich hit the post on an odd-man rush, but instead it would be a level game at the second intermission as Brandon Cutler tied it up, the Storm forward beating Whistle to a loose puck to poke it into the net at 38:28 (3-3).

Third Period

Whistle was again the busier of the two netminders early in the third as as he had to deny an early Haden breakaway and the Giants then had to rally to kill their third penalty of the game as Bast sat for delay of game, but they were able to do so before Goodwin restored their lead at 46:56, the captain the quickest to react to the rebound in the crease after Weninger failed to corral Piccinich’s initial shot (3-4).

The Giants were holding on bravely, killing off an interference penalty on Twarynski to maintain their lead, but just when it felt like they were going to maintain that one-goal lead, Hannoun tied the game again with a top shelf finish from the right circle with 4:45 remaining (4-4).

But a delay of game penalty against JD Dudek gave Belfast the crucial powerplay needed to win the game, Kawaguchi rifling in shortside on Weninger to retake the lead with 2:37 left on the clock (4-5) and Twarynski settled it by adding an empty net strike with exactly a minute remaining to ensure the two points would stick with the visitors (4-6).

Up Next

The Giants remain on the road, travelling to the West Midlands to take on the Coventry Blaze on Sunday 4 January and the Dundee Stars on Wednesday 7 January. Adam Keefe's side return to The SSE Arena, Belfast to face the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday 10 January. Tickets are on sale now and available to purchase here.