WATCH: Highlights & Pics from Belfast Giants 4 - 5 Nottingham Panthers
The Stena Line Belfast Giants fell to a 5-4 defeat on Sunday afternoon against the Nottingham Panthers at The SSE Arena.
The Stena Line Belfast Giants fell to a 5-4 defeat on Sunday afternoon against the Nottingham Panthers at The SSE Arena. Missing four key players through injury - the Giants forged an early 2-0 lead, but could not hold out as the game finished 4-4 before the Panthers claimed the additional point in the shootout.
Nickerson, Walser, Higgins and Peacock were all on the injury list for this one - however it was the hosts who opened the scoring as Colin Shields finished off a nice move with James Desmarais at 8:18.
Desmarais then turned from provider to scorer at 15:58 as he hammered home from close range to extend the Giants lead at the end of the first 20 minutes of play.
At 26:57 Robert Farmer pulled one back for the visitors before the Panthers tied things up with a fluke of a second goal as a speculative shot by Juraj Kolnik deflected and looped into the Giants net.
However the Giants edged into the lead again as Mike Wilson tipped in a pass from Brandon Benedict on the powerplay to make it 3-2 at the end of the second period.