Giants title hopes take hit with defeat to Devils
New signing Jerome Leduc hits double during debut Man of the Match performance
The Stena Line Belfast fell to a 4-3 defeat against the league leading Cardiff Devils on Friday in Belfast. A late Cardiff comeback claimed two valuable points for the Welsh side. The two sides will meet again in Belfast on Saturday, face-off 7pm at The SSE Arena, Belfast.
The Giants had the better of the chances in the opening period and it was new signing Jerome Leduc who gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. Leduc’s goal, his first for the Giants, was scored at 13:29 and assisted by David Rutherford and Mark Garside.
With 38 seconds remaining in the first period, Michael Forney doubled the lead for the home side when his shot nestled into the bottom corner of the Devils net, assisted by Blair Riley and Chris Higgins.
With the Devils pressurising the Giants in the middle period - the home side took full advantage of a powerplay with Josh Batch serving a 2 minute Interference call. Jerone Leduc netted his second of the night to extend the Giants lead to 3-0, assisted by Jim Vandermeer and Michael Forney at 29:04.
Mark Richardson pulled one back for the Devils early in the final period after Joey Haddad picked out the Cardiff defence man at 43:16.
Devils forward Sean Bentivoglio made it a one-goal game at 52:17 when his pass from behind the net deflected off Derrick Walser’s skate and into the Giants goal.
At 55:44, it was an even game when Joey Haddad netted the equaliser for the Devils, assisted by Patrick Asselin and Andrew Hotham.
Asselin then turned from provider to scorer when, after assisting the game-tying goal, he netted the go-ahead for Cardiff as they led for the first time at 57:46. That goal proved to be the game winning goal as the Devils won 4-3 on the road in Belfast.
The Giants return to home action again on Saturday against the Cardiff Devils - face-off 7pm at The SSE Arena, Belfast. Tickets are on sale now online at ticketmaster.ie as well as from The SSE Arena Box Office until face-off either in person or by calling 028 9073 9074.