Jackson Whistle turned away all 33 shots he faced for his third shut-out of the season and Bobby MacIntyre grabbed a double as the Stena Line Belfast Giants secured a 5-0 win over the Glasgow Clan in their Elite League clash at the SSE Arena.
Backed by the unbeatable netminder, MacIntyre led the way at the other end as further goals from Ara Nazarian, Ciaran Long and David Goodwin earned them the two points to kick off the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
First period
After Ben Lake had set the tone for the game with a huge hit on Gary Haden, it took just 59 seconds for Nazarian to put the Giants ahead when he produced a beautiful move in close to finish (1-0), and they continued their early offensive dynamism as both Josh Roach and Travis Brown drove the net but couldn’t beat Antti Karjalainen again.
But having started so strongly, the Giants were close to being pegged back in the middle third of the opening frame as the Clan hit the crossbar twice, Charlie Combs striking the pipes on the backhand shortly before a broken play dropped on the stick of Michael Pelech and he, too, rang the iron.
After a thrilling start to the game, the end of the period was a bit of a slow-burner, although the Giants nearly added a second as Daniel Tedesco showed some great hands to generate a chance, but Karjalainen was equal to his effort, and to a Long strike as the seconds ticked down.
Second period
An action-packed start to the second period saw the Giants get two penalty shots in the opening two-and-a-half minutes as first MacIntyre and then Greg Printz were hooked back as they went in on breakaways, the former converting at 21:34 to double the home side’s lead (2-0) but the latter was denied by Karjalainen with the stick.
The third goal wasn’t long in coming either as Long got his goal at 22:31, the centre driving into the slot from the half-boards and finishing backhanded five-hole (3-0), with the Giants doing well to kill off a goaltender interference call on Lake midway through the period to maintain the clean sheet, with Whistle making another big save to deny Jordan Cownie.
Again the netminder came up big when Robert Lachowicz was found alone at the back door, going post-to-post to save, but his best stop of the period was on a Clan penalty shot as Darien Craighead was hooked back by Jeff Baum on the breakaway, but Whistle stood tall to make the save and keep the Scots off the scoresheet.
But even after that there were opportunities for the Clan that Whistle needed to be alert to stop, making another massive save to deny Dyson Stevenson and then shutting the door on another penalty as Blake Speers was boxed for slashing.
Third period
Matt Barry flashed a shot wide early in the final frame as the Clan went on another powerplay as the Giants were called for too many men on the ice, but the best chance came as Miles Gendron burst out of the box and fed Oliver Cooper, whose low shot hit the base of the left post and away.
A delay of game penalty on Luke Lynch gave the Giants their first powerplay of the game but Glasgow had the best chance while their man was off as Lachowicz nearly finished on a shorthanded breakaway, but a second penalty against Lynch for hooking yielded the fourth goal as MacIntyre doubled his tally, his one-timer from the right circle deflected in at 52:32. (4-0)
And the Giants would end the game with a flourish, killing off a roughing call against Lake before Goodwin added the fifth at 57:08 when he was picked out by Josh Roach in front to finish on the backhand (5-0), and Mark Cooper almost added a sixth on another powerplay when Lachowicz was penalised for slashing, but the scoreline was already lopsided enough.
Next up
Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants will renew acquaintances with the Cardiff Devils on Sunday March 31 at the Vindico Arena, before finishing off their regular season slate with a home double-header against the Sheffield Steelers on Friday April 5 and Saturday April 6. Tickets available here.