Assistant coach George Awada says the Belfast Giants are still a work in progress but that they are progressing in the right direction as their sole focus moves to the Elite League for what he describes as the “meaty part of the season”.
After securing top seeding for the knockouts of the Challenge Cup despite losing 4-3 in overtime to the Fife Flyers on Saturday, the Giants responded by getting their League bid back on track as five different scorers and a 31-save performance from netminder Tom McCollum sunk the Glasgow Clan.
The win sees the Giants cut the deficit to the League-leading Cardiff Devils, who did not play over the weekend due to their involvement in the Continental Cup, to seven points having played two games less, improving their record to 6-3-1 by bouncing back not just from the loss to the Flyers but the previous weekend’s defeat to the Sheffield Steelers.
And while Awada admits they are always striving for more in their bid for silverware, they are quietly confident in the locker room that they can start to claw back more points on their rivals over a busy month and a half that will see them play 15 games before the calendar flips to 2025.
“It’s always a work in progress. We’re never going to be happy until we’re sitting drinking out of a Cup at the end of the season,” he acknowledged.
“We just need confidence, momentum and do a little better on the road, I think. We’re confident in what we have in that room. Our goalies are stopping the puck. We have offence from multiple people.
“This is the meaty part of the season, November, December. These games are huge, especially the home ones.
“If we can keep a positive run going, it will lead into what we can potentially do in January and February when you start seeing separation. We just take it one game at a time.”
Sunday’s win was a good response from Adam Keefe’s team as they picked up two points in their only League game of the weekend, although they didn’t have to be all that impressive against a lacklustre Clan side.
Defenceman Karl Boudrias set them on their way 6:36 in with a remarkable goal as the rebound from Grant Mismash’s shot deflected in off his face, with Scott Conway and Mismash himself putting the result to bed before the end of the second period.
The Clan did push back early in the third, with Michael Pelech the only man to beat McCollum over the course of proceedings midway through the final frame, but Bobo Carpenter and J.J. Piccinich scored late to ease any nerves and put some gloss on the scoreline.
“We wanted to play a full 60, but it’s hard against a team like that because they do push and they’re very physical,” added Awada.
“We did a good job to get out of the first two periods with the lead, and then we didn’t do as good a job hemming them in the corners in the third. Tom was huge for us, he made some key saves for us, especially in the third.
“It was good we were able to turn the switch and get the two goals at the end there, our reward for some good defensive play.
“Our D have been scoring from the back end, as they have all year. It’s nice Karl is getting goals. J.J. worked hard all night, he deserved one.
“(The third line) had a lot of momentum there, they could have scored on a couple. They haven’t had a lot of looks all the time, but when you get the one they did and finish it, it’s good.”
Awada confirmed that winger Jordan Kawaguchi’s absence over the weekend was “precautionary” and that a couple of bodies “will be back skating this week”.