Giants Behind By One After First Leg In Nottingham
The Stena Line Belfast Giants trail by one goal going into Monday's Playoff Quarter Final 2nd Leg following Saturday's narrow 4-3 defeat in Nottingham.
The Stena Line Belfast Giants trail by one goal going into Monday's Playoff Quarter Final 2nd Leg following Saturday's narrow 4-3 defeat in Nottingham.
The fourth and fifth seeds met at the National Ice Centre on Saturday and the game is still too close to call as to which side will advance to the Playoff Finals next weekend.
The first period was a slow burner as both sides sized each other up with Miika Wiikman and Stephen Murphy cancelling each other out in opposing nets.
The deadlock was broken in the second period at 29:27 when Evan Mosey picked out Brad Moran to fire home from close range and give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The Panthers advantage was doubled at 33:17 as Kolnik scored on the powerplay.
However the Giants fought their way back into the Playoff Quarter Final contest to halve the deficit thanks glance finish by Mike Wilson at 33.56. Little over two minutes later it was 2-2 as Chris Higgins tied things up with an unassisted effort at 35.57.
With 43 seconds left in the period Mike Forney completed a remarkable second period, firing past Wiikman at his near post to put the Giants 3-2 in front.
The Panthers made it 3-3 in the third period when Robert Farmer's shot was saved and Cam Janssen was in the right place to tap in at 44:42. At 48.51, the home side regained the lead as Schultz scored off MacDonald's rebound to give the Panthers the advantage going into Monday's 2nd Leg at The SSE Arena, Belfast face-off 7pm.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)0; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); > ONE home game to go!!!This Monday night - Playoff: vs the Nottingham Panthers in Belfast, face-off 7pm