Seven Up For Giants in Manchester Victory

Elijiah Barriga got a double, defenceman Karl Boudrias found the twine on his debut and there were further goals for Jordan Kawaguchi, Mark Cooper, Josh Roach and Gabe Bast, along with a 33-save performance from Jackson Whistle, to secure the two points.

First period

The first chance of the game fell to J.J. Piccinich as he was found skating up main street by Scott Conway but his effort was gloved down by Evan Weninger, while Ciaran Long was denied shorthanded as he picked off Joe Morrow’s drop pass and skated in on Weninger but the netminder made the stop as Boudrias sat for kneeing.

But two quick goals would pull the Giants clear in quick fashion, pulling ahead at 11:40 through Kawaguchi, the winger picked out in the left circle by Pierre-Olivier Morin and going shortside on Weninger for the goal (0-1), before captain Cooper picked the top corner from the right face-off dot at 12:49 for the second (0-2).

Manchester would respond immediately, however, as straight off the face-off good passing from Grant Hebert and Tyler Hinam set up Craig Martin for the finish from the left circle at 13:02 (1-2), with Long denied on the backhand breakthrough by Weninger and Hebert blanked by Whistle shortly after.

Second period

The Giants started the period by killing off the remainder of a holding call on Josh Roach from the first period and then restored their two-goal cushion as new man Boudrias opened his account, taking the drop pass from Conway and rifling into the top corner at 21:45 (1-3), but a high-sticking penalty on Conway would allow Hebert to make it a one-goal game again at 27:23 as he tipped in Joe Morrow’s shot for the powerplay goal (2-3).

The goal scoring would continue as Roach took the Giants’ lead back to two at 30:14 when he fired in the one-time slapshot that went all the way in thanks to Cooper’s excellent screen in front (2-4) and just two seconds after a hooking call on Ryan Hughes expired Bast would add a fifth as he was found at the blue-line as the trailing skater and fired into the bottom corner at 33:53 (2-5).

The sixth came at 35:09, a shot from Roach cannoning off the backboards and straight to the stick of Barriga at the back post and he was able to jam it in off the pads of Weninger (2-6), with Whistle shutting the door for the rest of the period to maintain the comfortable advantage.

Third period

With the healthy lead, the Giants were comfortable to play risk averse hockey to consolidate their position, but they did have a couple of looks with their best seeing Kawaguchi hit the post as he drove in from the left circle, while new Storm netminder Alex Oldale - who replaced Weninger in the intermission - kept them off the scoreboard further.

The defensive masterclass continued for the Giants as they played out a 5-on-3 powerplay as both Bo Hanson (interference) and Long (slashing) sat simultaneously, although that was with a degree of luck as Hughes hit the post on the man advantage, but there was nothing lucky about Whistle making an incredible save to deny Owen Griffiths, the centre found in front by Connor Lee but denied a tap in by a wonder stop by the netminder.

Another impressive late stop from Whistle saw him deny Jake Durflinger with a fine pad save and Barriga would wrap things up with just 30 seconds remaining as he picked up Cameron Pound’s drop pass into the right circle and found the twine with a fine shot (2-7).

Next up

Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants finish their Elite League road trip by heading to the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday 10 November. Their next home game at The SSE Arena, Belfast is set to take place on Saturday 16 November when the men in teal will face the Fife Flyers in Challenge Cup action. Tickets available to purchase here.