Giants Find A Way In Fife

Mike Lee, JJ Piccinich, Josh Roach and Scott Conway all found the twine in Kirkcaldy as the Giants maintained their lead at the top of the league standings with the win.

First period

Despite dominating the early exchanges, the Giants struggled to make any headway in terms of the scoreline as the best of the early chances fell to Bobo Carpenter, who couldn’t finish on a wraparound before his backhanded effort on the breakaway was saved by Shane Owen.

Mark Cooper was the next to have a go when he brought the puck back in front and his backhanded shot went through the crease, but the deadlock was broken at 14:42 as Lee found the twine with a shot from the blue-line that went through traffic and all the way in (0-1).

A double-minor high-sticking penalty on Flyers defenceman Tyler Heidt looked to give the Giants even more momentum but instead the home side tied it through Massimo Carozza, who struck shorthanded on the breakaway at 16:00 (1-1), only for Piccinich to restore the Giants’ two-goal advantage on the second penalty at 18:08 when he flicked in Cooper’s drive to the net (1-2).

Second period

Picking up from his goal in the first period, Lee provided the early offense for the Giants as he drove the net and Scott Conway flicked the rebound just wide, but the game would be tied again at 24:15 once more through Carozza, who was able to redirect Patrick Kyte’s pass into the top corner (2-2).

The Giants had a pushback, though, and after Pierre-Olivier Morin was denied in close by Owen, Roach got them back ahead at 28:28 when he was found in the slot by David Goodwin and beat Owen on the backhand (2-3), with McCollum maintaining the lead by denying Michael Cichy in close.

Carpenter nearly had a goal when he was found in front but saw his one-timer saved by Owen, while McCollum produced his biggest save of the game when he flashed the glove to deny Ben Brown on what looked like a certain goal for the young Scot.

Third period

The Giants got an early boost in the third period when Daniel Krenzelok was punished for boarding and they took full advantage at 45:25 when Conway got the game-winning goal, firing in the one-timer from the right circle (2-4) which they needed as Charles-Antoine Paiement reduced the deficit to one again at 46:57 when he fired in the rebound off Austin Farley’s shot (3-4).

Despite being pegged back, Belfast kept pushing for another goal and Owen made two excellent saves to deny Cooper and Conway in quick succession to keep the game in the balance going into the final few minutes.

And the result was brought even more into jeopardy when Morin was called for holding and then Conway was penalised for hooking, but the Giants’ penalty kill unit did a phenomenal job to play out both calls and get to the final buzzer to secure the two points.

Next up

Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants complete their weekend Scottish double-header as they travel to the Glasgow Clan on Sunday 16 March before a Challenge Cup final rematch with the Cardiff Devils at the Vindico Arena on Friday 21 March. Tickets are available here.