Belfast Giants are left stuck in a rut after weekend defeats

After the teams skated through the opening 20 minutes scoreless, Jamie Arniel had an excellent chance to open the scoring early in the second period but could only find Tyler Beskorowany’s shoulder.

The Giants thought they’d got the game’s first goal 7.18 into period two but a no-goal call on the ice was upheld on video review to check if the puck had crossed the line or not – and if it had, how.

Evan Mosey finally broke the deadlock with 28.22 played, drifting unmarked into the slot and firing home a Trevor Cox pass. The middle period ended with the Giants outshooting their guests some 31-9.

Belfast were level with 14.58 left in period three. An innocuous-looking shot from Sean Norris saw the rebound off Bowns come straight back into the slot for Kohei Sato to fire home and tie things up.

In what was a tight period, Cole Sanford put the Devils back ahead with 5.17 left on the clock as his shot from a sharp angle bounced off Beskorowany and over the line.

However, the Giants answered almost immediately and tied the game through Greg Printz’s redirect of a Charlie Curti shot with just over three minutes left in regulation.

With 47 seconds left, Sanford won the puck on the Devils’ blue line and raced away before beating Beskorowany to give the Devils a dramatic, late winner.

Meanwhile, the Guildford Flames made it five straight wins with a 3-1 victory at the expense of the Belfast Giants on Sunday night.

Ben O'Connor opened the scoring for the hosts 12.07 into the game with a blue-line wrist shot that appeared to be deflected in front of Tyler Beskorowany. 24 seconds later, Peter Crinella beat the Giants' goalie 1-on-0 to double the Flames' lead. A furious Adam Keefe called his timeout and made no secret of his feelings about his side's start to the game.

Guildford should have added to their lead in period two, but had to wait until 65 seconds from the end to score the all-important next goal - Bryan Lemos the scorer after a nice cut in from the wing.

Miles Gendron was ejected for a Cross-Checking major, following by Kohei Sato taking a High-Sticking minor, forcing the Giants to kill off over two minutes of 5-on-3 time. Matt McLeod added a consolation for the visitors with 1.40 remaining.

For Guildford it meant four wins in a row, while Belfast have won just one of the last four fixtures.

The Giants will need to re-group ahead of another challenging bunch of away games this weekend, first up on Saturday will be the current EIHL leader the Sheffield Steelers at the Utilita Stadium (faceoff at 7pm). The following night (Sunday, November) then travel across to play the Manchester Storm (faceoff at 5.30pm).

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