The Jekyll and Hyde Belfast Giants showed their good side on Saturday night beating the Edinburgh Capitals 5-0 at the Odyssey Arena, twenty-four hours after they had woefully capitulated to the Braehead Clan.
Doug Christiansen’s side lost ground to the Nottingham Panthers as their title rivals won both their games to increase the lead at the top of the Elite League to four points but the Giants’ destiny remains in their own hands after a result they badly needed.
“Braehead was a bad loss, you can’t make excuses for that but we needed to bounce back from it and I thought we did that against Edinburgh,” explained Christiansen.
“It’s very disappointing when you have a home weekend and you split but we are still in this title race.
“We brought the guys together after the morning skate and I actually had put together a video slideshow of all the things we’ve gone through this season whether it was injuries or facial cuts and videos of some of the team building we did like climbing Cavehill and Christmas parties.
“We really have been through a lot and the guys really want to do well and I was just trying to point out that they can’t afford to have bad nights and lose those memories by not competing and not showing up. I thought they responded well and got the job done.”
In the game itself the Giants had the foot on the accelerator from the start as Christiansen juggled his line combinations.
After only eight minutes they had netted three goals in a three-minute spell to take control of the game.
The opener came from ex-Capital Mark Garside as he found the net at 4.48. The Giants doubled their lead with a powerplay goal from Craig Peacock at 6.21. Just over a minute later they were three in front as Darryl Lloyd dispatched the puck at 7.41.
The visitors offered short spells where they could have gotten back into the game but Giants netminder Garrett Zemlak kept them at bay and would record his third shutout in his last five games.
Offensively the home team could only get the one goal in the second period despite dominating play. David Phillips found the net in the 29th minute.
The final twenty minutes were punctuated with a lot of penalties and it was while killing one that the Giants swept up ice to score shorthanded through Colin Shields at 45.40.
It was game over and job done and the Giants will next face Hull at home on Saturday night.
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