The Belfast Giants showed their desire to retain the Elite League title is unquenchable as they came from behind four times against the Cardiff Devils on Friday night to eventually pull out an astonishing 5-4 victory.
The game didn’t started well with the Devils taking the lead when a defensive breakdown in their own zone left Chris Blight all alone in the slot and hammered home the easy opportunity.
A powerplay goal for the home side tied the game at 9:34. An almighty scramble in front of the Devils net saw Chad Langlais hit the crossbar but the puck broke for Jeff Mason to score.
However by the end of the first period the Giants were behind againas Luke Ferrara found the bottom corner.
Zemlak was replaced by Stephen Murphy for the second period because of injury and he watched on as Andrew Fournier skated across the Devils crease and then roofed the puck past a prone Devils netminder Chris Whitley to knot the score at 2-2.
The goal was scored 54 seconds after the restart but less than two minutes later Stuart Macrae split the Giants defence to put the Devils in front for a third time.
The play was now frenetic with both teams going hard at each other but at 27:33 Mark Garside’s pass was redirected by Darryl Lloyd to make it 3-3 and all to play for going into the final twenty minutes.
It was the visitors who went ahead wfrom Jesse Gimblett at 41:54 and the Giants came storming back with a goal from Kevin Saurette.
And for the first time this season the Giants won the first game of a home doubleheader.On every other occasion they bounced back to win the second but on Saturday night they need to make it a sweep. Face-off is seven o’clock.
Comments