Giants smash and grab in Nottingham

Nottingham Panthers head coach Corey Neilson was left considering a call to the Nottinghamshire Constabulary such was the way the Belfast Giants took their second win in the National Ice Centre in as many nights.

The number 7 was a poignant one for the visiting side. A stinging slapshot from defenseman Nick Kuiper with only 7 seconds remaining sealed a 3 goal comeback win within the final 7 minutes of the game.

The comeback was all the more unbelievable given the game they had undertaken till that point. The 2 goal lead Nottingham had gained all the more worthy of their performance given the sloppyness of the Giants forward play.

A Steven Lee slapshot from the top of the right circle under 4 minutes into the game saw the Giants defense drawn to the puck. Lee, all alone and a shooting lane as wide as the Grand Canyon, slapped the puck high and to the left of Giants netminder Stephen Murphy. The puck appeared to glance the Scotsman’s glove before nestling in the back of the net and sending the East Midland fans into raptures.

The home side doubled their lead before the period ended. A defensive lapse on the Panthers blueline sent Rob Lachowicz clear on Murphy. His play seemed to hand the puck to the Giants netminder only for it to appear, slowly, into the back of the net. Panthers rightfully on top.

Belfast struggled with play. Passing and shooting seems a chore that wasn’t apparent the previous night. For the 38 shots that amounted on Craig Kowalski’s goal he remained largely untroubled for 53 minutes of the game. Doug Christiansen’s side toiled in their attempts to remain in the match, passes were short, long, under the feet, straight to Panthers advancing forwards. Meanwhile their opposition retained the sharpness that their 2-0 advantage deserved.

The final 7 minutes of the game may in time be considered as the sounding of the death-knell on the Nottingham coaching career of Corey Neilson. To concede a dominant lead in such a fashion will do nothing for the coaches already questionable position. Despite their trophy accumulation in the preceding years, the faithful of Lower Parliament Street see the EIHL title as the holy grail and the manner in which their team surrendered the lead in their own barn showed that their side are a long way from achieving  that.

Adam Keefe and Robert Dowd brought the Giants back into the game. Keefe’s goal right on the 53rd minute brought a lacklustre visiting team to life. Rob Dowd, under fire in the press from Steelers coach Ryan Finnerty last week, levelled the sides with less than 3 minutes on the clock.

As time ran down in the final period the watching fans, and seemingly the home side, settled themselves in for the second overtime session of the weekend. Kuiper, however, had not read this script and with only his second goal of the season, 7.7 seconds from the final buzzer, opened the exit door for hundreds of Nottingham fans. The red light over Craig Kowalski’s shoulder caused the NIC faithful to search for their car park tickets as the Giants fans stood and applauded the type of win that keeps their title march on track for another weekend.

The Giants entered Sundays second game having taken the win in the same Arena the night before. The lottery of penalty shots was needed to separate the two high flying clubs with regulation and over time unable to decide the outcome. Nottingham, however, would have gained some confidence for the following night despite the outcome, with Corey Neilson’s side fighting back a 2 goal deficit to tie the game at 3-3.

In a match up dominated by the Giants, once again the Belfast team failed to convert a high number of shots on goal into a decisive regulation win. Nottingham’s point from the weekend may not be enough to keep their aspirations of a first league title in nearly 60 years realistically alive, but they do remain, be it mathematically, on the hunt.

Neilson’s side will have their part to play in the title race should they not pull off the impossible. This weekends games, as well as games against arch-rivals the Sheffield Steelers, will make the performances of Nottinghamshire squad a decisive factor in the final home of the Elite League trophy. All this before finishing their league season off with a return game in Belfast

While Nottingham took 1 point from a weekend that saw 5 Elite league points distributed between the sides, the 4 point haul of the Belfast Giants will mark it “Mission Accomplished” as the race for the Elite League Title reaches an exciting conclusion.