Giants' late show to help seal fine victory

Sebastien Sylvestre grabbed the game-winning goal to complete a four-point weekend for the Giants following Friday’s 5-4 home win against Guildford.

The win sees the Giants remains in fourth position - now two points closer to Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham.

The opening period was an even affair until the Steelers’ special teams took advantage to put the home side ahead.

First up was Mathieu Roy opening the scoring with the puck deflecting off the Sheffield forward during a five-on-three powerplay.

John Armstrong picked up a rebound from Colton Fretter’s shot to double the Sheffield lead with another powerplay goal for the hosts.

The Giants had the better of the play in the middle period and deservedly got the goal that reduced the deficit. Blair Riley fed the puck to Jonathan Ferland who ripped a slapshot high into the net.

Belfast got off to a fast start in the third period with Colin Shields picking up on the loose puck and hammering home a slapshot to equalise, with assists by Sylvestre and Brendan Connolly.

Spiro Goulakos put the hosts ahead for the first time in the game with a fine unassistsed strike.

The game boiled over when Fretter was thrown out of the game for checking from behind after chasing down Goulakos, who was assessed a ‘kicking’ penalty which ended his game.

The Steelers battled back to tie the game once again when Roy found Mark Matheson in space in front of the Giants net.

The Giants showed resilience with a short-benched roster and got a reward when Riley and Darcy Murphy combined well to move the puck to Sylvestre, who fired past Mustukovs to seal the win.

The Giants continue a five-game road swing with back-to-back games against Braehead and Edinburgh next weekend before entertaining Cardiff Devils on November 11.