A couple of early goals and just a single conceded by Eamon McAdam allowed the Flames to build a lead they would not relinquish on the way to a 3-1 home win over Belfast Giants.
Spectrum’s men jumped on the visitors with a pair of goals 24 seconds apart in the middle of the opening set to take a 2-0 lead at the break. Ben O’Connor started it at 12:07 and Peter Crinella followed up at 12:31.
Most of the 2nd ticked away before Flames extended their advantage thanks to Bryan Lemos 65 seconds from period time and the home team closed 40 minutes with a 3 goal lead.
With Belfast leading the powerplay count 4-1 on the night, Flames had their key extra man opportunity when Miles Gendron took a Cross Checking major and game misconduct near the period’s midway point. Inside the last 2 minutes of the major, Giants took another penalty to set Flames to a 5 on 3 advantage, but were unable to find the net through the entire stretch and back to even the teams went for the dying minutes. With their net empty an 80 seconds remaining, Giants finally solved McAdam with a Matthew McLeod goal, but it would not be enough to change the ultimate outcome.
“We played an outstanding team game from the net out and it was definitely the most complete performance we have had all season,” said Paul Dixon.
“Having a couple of recent wins really helped us to go into games with a lot more confidence which you definitely need when a team of Belfast’s calibre is in town.”
“We took advantage of some early opportunities and playing with a lead against a team as good as them is definitely a better recipe for a win than trying to pull one back.”
“It’s a big win for the guys, the biggest of the season so far, and hopefully we can now continue with a level of consistency going forward.”
