Belfast Giants scored 4 2nd period goals in less than 10 minutes to blow open a 1-1 tie on the way to an eventual 5-2 win over the visiting Flames.
Jordan Kawaguchi set Giants in front at 11:38 on a powerplay which turned out to be the only goal of the opening frame.
At 25:38, Daniel Catenacci pulled Flames level, but Mark Cooper put the hosts in front permanently just a few minutes later. Jeff Baum made it 3-1 at 33:42 and Pierre-Olivier Morin extended it further at 35:47. A reply by Daniel Tedesco less than a minute later cut the difference to a pair, but it took just 20 more seconds for Giants’s Ben Lake to re-store the original gap before the period closed and remained as the final through the full 60 minute event.
Jake Kupsky made 43 saves on 48 shots against Tom McCollum who stopped 26 of 28 his way.
“We really wanted to win in here today to close out the weekend with 4 points after what we did in Fife, but we definitely didn’t do nearly enough to make that happen,” admitted Paul Dixon.
“We came in with confidence after Saturday, but tonight we gave up too many opportunities, and after we tied it up in the 2nd period they basically buried us over a very short space of time.”
“That is a good hockey club, possibly a team that will take the league title, and we have to be at our very best for every minute of 60 minutes.”
“We have to get back on the road Wednesday so we are going to have to put this out of mind, and have a good Tuesday practice to be ready for our best at Glasgow midweek.”
