The Belfast Giants got back to winning ways as they gained revenge on the Glasgow Clan on Sunday afternoon, but it was a bittersweet result in many ways, not just because they handed a point to their rivals but the manner in which they did it.
Grant Mismash’s third period double, allied with Mike Lee’s first period powerplay strike, looked to have handed the Giants the comfortable two points, cruising at 3-1 up and ending the game on the powerplay when Mitchell Heard was ejected for the Clan.
But somehow Adam Keefe’s men contrived to go to overtime and then a shoot-out, allowing Deven Sideroff to score shorthanded twice in the final 43 seconds, and just 14 seconds apart, to tie the game 3-3 and hand the visitors a point for their efforts and give them a chance at leaving with both.
In the end, Belfast would triumph, Mismash, Pierre-Olivier Morin and Ben Lake all striking in the shoot-out – the former’s goal being the game-winner and therefore his hat-trick goal – and netminder Jackson Whistle saved from all three of Joseph Hazeldine, Tyson McLellan and Keaton Jameson to secure the win.
In simple terms, the Giants’ win – revenge of sorts after falling 3-1 in Glasgow on Saturday – does restore their vice-like grip on Group B in the Challenge Cup, now 6-1-0 and three points clear of the Clan at the top with five games remaining, however their hopes of clinching top seeding took a blow as they dropped another shot at a regulation win.
There was still a lot to like for Keefe, with the Giants visibly much more offensively potent than they were on Saturday, peppering Landon Bow with 29 shots compared to the 20 that came the way of Whistle, and the special teams had a big night, going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 2-for-6 on the powerplay.
Keefe made the bold call of splitting up Scott Conway and J.J. Piccinich for the first time this season, leaving the former on the top line and dropping the latter to be with Jordan Kawaguchi and Morin in a bid to spark some offense after a tough game in Glasgow the night before and it appeared to work in the first period.
They did fall behind 3:54 in when Sideroff picked the top corner from the left circle, but Lee smashed in his third goal of the season on the powerplay at 7:33 to tie it up and the Giants will feel unfortunate not to have gone in at the first intermission ahead when a shot from the point from Gabe Bast beat Bow but it was waved off for questionable goaltender interference from Piccinich.
The second period was one beset by penalties meaning, both sides needing to kill off two meaning neither team really sparked any momentum, but it was on the Clan’s second, a roughing call on Heard, that held over into the third period that Belfast took the lead through Mismash.
The winger received the drop pass from Jordan Kawaguchi – who had his fourth multi-point game of the season – and buried the one-timer from the left face-off dot just 43 seconds into the period for the lead and then he hit the top corner from the opposite circle at 3:51 to double the Giants’ lead.
The hosts had their chances to kill off the game as they found Bow too tough to beat on a pair of powerplays, while Morin hit the post too, and they would be made to pay dearly as they took their eye off the ball in the final minute, particularly when Heard’s furious tirade at referee David Good saw him hit the showers early.
Sideroff scored twice just 14 seconds apart to force a forgettable overtime but it would be the Giants who would hold on for the extra point with a spectacular performance in the shoot-out, not that it should have gotten that far.