Giants WOW weekend away in the Lace City

In the Stena Line Belfast Giants opening Elite League game of the season in defense of their league title, they faced two times trophy winners Nottingham (Challenge Cup and Play-off Titles). Fireworks were bound to happen.

If the Giants Coach Christiansen expected his new signing to give the Panthers and their fans the WOW factor, they surely achieved that objective in aces.

The weekend just past normally happens at the climax to the end of season championship. So what more can we expect as the Giants achieved early days success?

Lets start at the beginning with the Giants coming from behind to quell the Panther thirst in this the opening league game of the season.

Christiansen said before the game, “it is a tough place to start the league but we know that it doesn’t matter if it’s September or March, these points are vital for either team.

I am happy with the week of training we have had, the guys I need to lead the charge are getting better each day and that gelling process that we keep talking about is coming together nicely.

I expected to see a very different team this weekend than the team that faced Braehead last Saturday. We have no intention of giving anyone else our title.” Concluded Christiansen.

Well it took till last two seconds of the second period for the Giants to get their nose in front trailing a very eager dominant Nottingham team. The Panther certainly had the edge at the end of the opening period but fail to execute giving Belfast their opening late in the second period. It must be stated till that point the Panthers out shot the Giants two to one early in the game and looked very much on top.

That seemed to be the wakeup call Belfast needed as the netted the only goal of the third period to claim the win. The Giants’ goals came from five different players spreading the load evenly with Stephen Murphy facing 51 shots in nets and played superbly.

Captain Adam Keefe, Andrew Fournier, David Philips, Scott Champagne and Sam Roberts in that order did the damage lifting the first two points in a double hitter in the Lace City.

So with Panthers seeking revenge with victory the only way Nottingham could satisfy both their fans and themselves. So the dye was cast for the titanic struggle to salvage Nottingham’s weekend.

The Panthers had their chances with three powerplay opportunities in the opening twenty minutes, however the score remained 0-0.  The Giants did manage to convert on their powerplay in the opening minutes of the second period when Robby Sandrock fired home a cannon on the powerplay to make it 1-0 in the opening eighty-tree seconds of the period. But the intensity of the game shone through just three minutes later, with Robert Lachowicz scoring on a Panther’s powerplay to tie the game, which ended the scoring in the 2nd period with the score even at one goal each.

In the final period the Giants gained another powerplay opportunity but failed to beat Craig Kowalski that is until Scott Champagne scored his second goal of the weekend against his old team to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

With two Giants in the sin bin and the Nottingham desperate to tie the score, the resulting 5 on 3 powerplay gave the Panthers the chance they needed, and they made it count with Matt Francis scoring midway through the third to level the game at two goals each.

With the game clock ticked down to the conclusion of regulation time the score line remained the same. Overtime and five more minutes of extra time couldn’t find a winner.

Like the dramatic battle it was without either team asking or giving quarter it went to a penalty shoot out for the extra point. Belfast’s Craig Peacock scoring for the Giants while Noah Clarke and Andrew Fournier both missed.  For the Panthers David Ling missed but then Matt Francis and Pat Galivan both scored to give the Panthers the shootout win and the extra point.

The Giants started their Elite League title defense with a three-point reward away from fortress Odyssey to one of the leading contenders to their title. Would they have taken three points before the weekend commenced? You would bet your last penny on that one.

Next up are the Dundee Stars, who the Stena Line Belfast Giants face at home in the Odyssey Arena on Thursday September 20th at 7:30pm.