Jordan Kawaguchi grabbed a hat-trick on Valentine’s Night at The SSE Arena, Belfast to help the Stena Line Belfast Giants pick up an 8-1 win over the Fife Flyers and extend their lead to ten points at the top of the Elite League table.
The winger notched a treble alongside further goals from Mark Cooper, J.J. Piccinich, Pierre-Olivier Morin, Gabe Bast and Scott Conway secured the two points on home ice to begin the weekend.
First period
The Giants got off to the perfect start just 83 seconds into the tie as Cooper fired them ahead off a brilliant reverse feed into the left circle (1-0), however Fife quickly tied it up at 3:43 as a left circle shot from Massimo Carozza snuck through the pads of Tom McCollum (1-1), before a defensive mix-up from the Giants led to Lucas Chiodo cranking one off the crossbar and then Bast hit the post at the other end for Belfast.
The game wouldn’t be tied for long, though, and after some sustained Giants pressure they got their reward as Piccinich added the second at 9:47, skating through the zones and rifling in from the right circle (2-1), and they could have added a third on multiple occasions as Ciaran Long, David Goodwin and Scott Conway all had looks.
Although the Giants were still the ones making all the inroads, Michael Cichy provided a reminder of the Flyers’ firepower when he cut in from the left circle and tried to beat McCollum with the backhand but was denied, and instead Morin added the hosts’ third at 17:58 as Elijiah Barriga fanned on a shot attempt from Cooper’s pass but the puck found its way to the stick of the centre, who swept it in (3-1).
Second period
It took just 23 seconds of the middle frame for the Giants to add their fourth, the puck making its way into the mid-slot where Bast managed to bounce one past Owen (4-1) and the fifth goal would come just 17 seconds later as a quick drive up the ice led to Kawaguchi roofing the puck on the backhand from a tight angle (5-1).
It didn’t take long for the sixth to arrive as Kawaguchi got his second, Conway finding him in the left circle for the finish at 23:40 (6-1) and the Giants passed up two opportunities to add onto their healthy lead as Jonas Emmerdahl (cross-checking) and Austin Farley (tripping) both served penalties that would go unpunished.
Neither side made many inroads towards the end of the period, although the visitors did come close a couple of times as Cichy and Tyler Heidt both saw efforts turned away by McCollum.
Third period
Conway grabbed the seventh just 46 seconds into the final period as he slammed in off Piccinich’s reverse pass (7-1)before the Giants came under some rare Fife pressure after Kieran Craig’s hooking minor when Long was boxed for cross-checking and Olivier LeBlanc’s shot was tipped in for McCollum to save sharply.
But Kawaguchi would end the night with the hat-trick as he found his third goal with 4:23 remaining, the winger on hand to fire into the net off Ben Lake’s feed (8-1) to round off a comfortable night on home ice.
Next up
The Stena Line Belfast Giants have a top of the table trip to the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday 16 February before a massive home double-header with the Cardiff Devils on Friday 21 February and Saturday 22 February. Get your tickets here.
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