Cardiff Devils 3 Belfast Giants 4 after shootout

The home side got off to a flyer, as they were two up with 92 seconds on the clock. The opener came from the stick of Sam Smith with 52 seconds played. They doubled their lead with a strike from Jeff Pierce at 1.32. The Giants pulled one back at 4.13 with a powerplay goal from Craig Peacock. The hosts regained their two goal lead advantage as Brad Voth netted at 13.18.

The Giants got it back to within one early in the second period as Brock McBride fired home at 24.54. Giants had a great opportunity to get back on level terms with 9 minutes to play in the second period. At 31.17 and then at 31.59 they went on a 5 on 3 powerplay – that was killed. Then at 35.14, they went on a four-minute powerplay but once again failed to make it count and went in at the second break trailing by a goal.

Only the one goal in the third period and it came the way of the visitors as Mark Garside netted with a powerplay goal at 45.59. With no further goals the game went into overtime. This also failed to find a winner and the game was decided by a penalty shootout with Benoit Doucet getting the all-important game winning penalty shot.