Whistle Nott to be Beaten as Panthers Defeated

The Great Britain netminder secured his third shut-out of the season as Baum fired home late in the first period and Piccinich sealed it with a late empty netter to get the Giants back in the win column on home ice.

First period

The Panthers perhaps should have been ahead on the opening shift of the game as a quick break saw Tim Doherty cut back across Whistle but fail to finish, while the first powerplay opportunity for the Giants - Reid Stefanson called for tripping - was shortened when Gabe Bast headed off for interference, but neither side could strike on the man advantage.

Mark Cooper had two big chances on back-to-back breakaways but was denied by Jason Grande both times, while the Panthers couldn’t capitalise on their second powerplay as Karl Boudrias took a seat for tripping, while Grande had to make another impressive stop to deny Grant Mismash as the winger skated into the zone from the blue-line.

The Giants would lead at the first intermission, though, as Baum produced a sparkling finish from the left circle at 19:20 (1-0), although there was still time for the Panthers to nearly find an equaliser as a breakaway nearly saw Sam Herr set up Kristoff Kontos for the tap-in but the pass went just astray.

Second period

Bast had the first chance of the second period as he skated in from the right side and dragged and shot, only for it to flash wide of Grande’s net, with Whistle needed to glove down two long-range shots from Herr and Cooper Zech on a second penalty against Boudrias, the forward this time penalised for a hooking minor, before just about doing enough to force Didrik Henbrant wide to put his shot onto the base of the post.

A frenetic period saw the Panthers start to get their tails up as Zech flashed another shot wide, but the Giants were still testing Grande at the other end and he had to be big to deny Ben Lake in close after Cooper’s pass back in front, although Whistle was still producing the bigger saves as he got a big blocker on Kontos’ effort from Mitchell Fossier’s feed to take the game to the second intermission still 1-0.

Third period

Belfast had two early chances to extend their lead, Cooper driving the net from the right circle but hitting the base of the post before Baum flicked a shot wide from close range, before some desperate defence and netminding from Whistle kept Nottingham out as Herr drove in from the right wing and Kontos tried to sweep in the rebound.

Arguably Whistle’s best save came when Herr seized on a loose pass from Bo Hanson and skated in one-on-one, only to be denied by the netminder, and he was able to kill off a holding penalty on Ciaran Long before a particularly good shift led to Scott Conway just tipping Josh Roach’s pass wide and Jordan Kawaguchi flaring a slapshot past the twine too.

The Giants had an excellent chance to kill off the game when Mismash and Piccinich went on an odd-man breakaway but the latter’s shot was well corralled by Grande, with Whistle just as impressive at the other end to pad away Fossier’s effort from in close, but it would be Piccinich who would seal it at 59:12 as he slid the puck the length of the ice and into the empty net to secure the two points (2-0).

Next up

Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants complete their weekend double-header against the Panthers with a rematch on Saturday 11 January, before the Sheffield Steelers come to The SSE Arena, Belfast on Saturday 18 January. Tickets are available here.