Netminder Tom McCollum kept his third shut-out in his last five games as Bobo Carpenter’s third goal in his last four games since returning from injury helped the Belfast Giants continue their winning momentum against the Guildford Flames.
Against a team containing plenty of familiar faces – Guildford had four of last season’s Giants roster in their line-up – it was two of their first-year players who did the damage on Friday night as Adam Keefe’s side maintained their Elite League title push.
Carpenter continued his red-hot streak with the game-winner just 10:52 into the contest, providing the finish to the rebound off Elijiah Barriga’s initial shot, and McCollum did the rest, turning away all 31 shots he faced over the three periods.
And that allowed Scott Conway to take advantage of a major penalty to Daniel Catenacci midway through the third period to ice the result with his 11th goal of the season and ensure the points would be staying at the SSE Arena.
Improving to 7-3-1 on the campaign, Keefe’s men made it back-to-back wins in the League and close to five points behind the Cardiff Devils having played one game more than their rivals, with a 4-for-4 penalty kill coming in very handy as well, particularly on back-to-back penalties in the second period.
The win was largely down to the impressive McCollum, who backed up last week’s excellent outing against Glasgow, where he took a shut-out into the third period, with a clean sheet on this occasion that saw him tested by a strong Flames offense but always looked comfortable.
And that allowed Carpenter to maintain his own excellent form at the other end, the winger in the right spot at the right time to slide home what would be the winning goal midway through the first period, his seventh of the year, and a lead that the home side would never relinquish.
That they didn’t add on before the intermission is the bigger question as not only did a Marcus Tesink tripping penalty go unpunished but two excellent chances for Carpenter passed him by.
But the second period would be a tale of the Belfast penalty kill shutting down the Flames offense superbly as all three of an interference call against Josh Roach and then back-to-back calls on Ben Lake (hooking) and Mark Cooper (tripping) were played out, largely to little difficulty.
And where the Flames couldn’t click, the Giants could. Catenacci was ejected from the game for spearing and the hosts, after Carpenter hit the crossbar, finally got their second with 8:40 left on the clock as Conway slammed in the rebound off Pierre-Olivier Morin’s initial effort to seal the deal.