Photos by Andy Gibson
The Stena Line Belfast Giants defeated the Nottingham Panthers 6-2 on Friday at The SSE Arena, Belfast and closed the gap on fourth placed Brahead Clan to two points. Goals from Shields (2), Radja, Ganzak, Forney and Beech gave the Giants a deserved home win in front of a sell-out crowd in Belfast.
The Giants began the game without key players Matt Nickerson, David Rutherford and Johan Ejdepalm and the home side got off to a bad start as Andy Bohmbach scored his 20th of the season for the Panthers after only 5:18, assisted by Robert Farmer and new signing Kevin Quick.
The hosts regrouped during the first intermission and came flying out the blocks in the second period with Colin Shields equalising with a fine effort 57 seconds in. Mike Radja made it 25 goals for the season at 28:54 as he finished off a nice move with Craig Peacock.
Peacock was the provider once again, this time it was Mitch Ganzak who scored with a powerplay goal at 32:25.
Once again, the Giants got the period off to a good start, as Michael Forney scored a fourth for the hosts 92 seconds into the third period. A moment of controversy at 51:04 as Referee Dean Smith awarded a goal to the visitors, when the puck appeared to hit the crossbar and rebound away from the net. Following moments of discussion with a linesman, the goal was given by the Referee and created to David Clarke.
Kris Beech and Chris Higgins got the Giants back on track as the pair combined well – with Beech finishing past Shane Madolora in the Panthers net at 56:42. Colin Shields rounded off the scoring at 59:57 as his empty net goal gave the Giants a 6-2 home win.
The Giants return to Elite League action on Saturday with a road trip against the Blaze, face-off 7pm in Coventry. Tuesday sees the Giants back in Belfast for the Challenge Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg against the Cardiff Devils, face-off 7pm, with the Devils leading 5-3 from the 1st Leg.
Final Score:
Stena Line Belfast Giants 6-2 Nottingham Panthers
Giants Man of the Match:
#19 Colin Shields
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