HIGHLGHTS: Giants 9-6 Capitals
The Stena Line Belfast Giants put on a dominant display at The SSE Arena in their final game before Christmas with a 9-6 league win over the Edinburgh Capitals.
The Stena Line Belfast Giants put on a dominant display at The SSE Arena in their final game before Christmas with a 9-6 league win over the Edinburgh Capitals. Six second period goals saw the Giants really take control of the game as they completed a second win over the Scottish side in as many nights.
Stephen Murphy was the Giants starting netminder with Jim Vandermeer the home side’s scratch.
The Giants opened the scoring in this one with 13:20 gone when, after some nice work behind the net by James Desmarais and Colin Shields, Desmarais picked up the puck and his wraparound found the back of the Edinburgh net.
With 61 seconds remaining in the first period, it was 2-0. Chris Higgins picked up the puck in the neutral zone, passed to Michael Forney who fed the puck back to Higgins who rounded Marr in the Capitals goal to double the home side’s lead.
The second period was dominated by the Giants as the home side outscored the visitors 6-1. The Giants third goal of the night was scored by Blair Riley on the powerplay at 21:22, assisted by David Rutherford. 1:20 later, it was 4-0 as Alex Foster netted at 22:24, assisted by David Rutherford.
Taylor MacDougall broke the Capitals deadlock at 24:02 with a powerplay goal, assisted by Matt Tipoff and Michal Dobron. However, 23 seconds later and the Giants had restored their four goal advantage thanks to James Desmarais slotting the puck home after Colin Shields shot rebounded off netminder Marr.
Steve Saviano made it 6-1 when he was the first to react to a rebound from Michael Forney’s shot at 27:34. Alex Foster extended the Giants lead once again when he scored his second of the game with low shot on net at 31:54. Blair Riley completed the second period scoring at 33:21, assisted by Chris Higgins.
Andrew Dickson replaced Stephen Murphy in net at the beginning of the third period. The Capitals attempted to claw their way back into the game with three quick goals early in the final period to pull the score back to 8-4. Fyodorov scored twice, at 42:17 and 48:05, with Vorobyev netting at 45:54.
Matt Towe scored the Giants ninth of the game at 50:06 when he cleverly diverted the puck past the Edinburgh netminder, assisted by James Desmarais and Jonathan Boxill.
Jared Stall pulled one back for the Capitals at 57:26, assisted by Matt Tipoff and Pavel Vorobyev with Michael DOrazio scoring at 58:57 for the fifteenth and final goal of the game.
The Giants will return to action on Boxing Day away against the Braehead Clan before returning to Belfast for home games on Wednesday 28th December against the Manchester Storm and vs Braehead Clan on Friday 30th December.
Final Score Stena Line Belfast Giants 9-6 Edinburgh Capitals
Giants Man of the Match #79 James Desmarais