The Stena Line Belfast Giants fell to their first defeat in six games on Sunday against the Braehead Clan with the home side skating away with a 5-2 win. Despite outshooting the Clan in the game, the damage was done for the Giants during the second period as the hosts took a commanding 3-0 lead and never looked back in front of a sold out 3,500 crowd in Glasgow.
The first period was an even affair with the Giants looking to make it two wins in as many nights against their Scottish opposition, followingSaturday’s 6-1 win and the Braehead Clan wanting an important win in front of a sold out crowd in the Braehead Arena. Despite both sides having early powerplay opportunities, the game remained scoreless at the end of the opening period.
The deadlock was broken at 30:09 when Lee Esders fired past Carsen Chubak in the Giants net with Adam Keefe sitting out a 2 minute slashing call. The Clan goal seemingly opened the floodgates with the hosts scoring twice more inside the next two and a half minutes. First, Tristan Harper scored his second goal of the season at 30:34 then Braehead Captain Matt Keith made it 3-0 at 32:38.
The visitors were left stunned and needed to regroup. And regroup they did at 33:13 – when Mike Kompon rifled the puck into the Braehead net, assisted by Craig Peacock and Robby Sandrock, on the Powerplay following Zach Fitzgerald taking a roughing penalty to leave the game poised at 3-1 going into the final period.
The third period did not start well for the Giants – with Stefan Meyer making it 4-1 at 46:24 and leaving the visitors a mountain to climb. The Giants got back onto the scoreboard at 59:02, with Mike Kompon scoring his second of the night as Carsen Chubak was pulled from his net in favour of the extra attacker. However, the Clan confirmed their victory with an empty-net goal from Meyer at 59:23 to claim the win and two valuable Elite League points which keeps the Scottish side in second place, one point off first – with the Giants lying four points back in fourth in the standings.
Final Score:
Braehead Clan 5-2 Stena Line Belfast Giants
A GIANT thank you to the large number of Giants fans who made the trip to Braehead today to cheer us on – we really appreciate your support!
— Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) December 28, 2014
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