A statement win from the Belfast Giants at the SSE Arena as they shut-out defending grand slam champions the Sheffield Steelers to take another step towards the top of the Elite League standings.
Netminder Tom McCollum turned away all 36 shots he faced as Adam Keefe’s men made it five wins in a row and continue their pursuit of the Cardiff Devils at the top of the standings.
Bobo Carpenter got the game-winner just 10:50 into the contest, which prompted the Giants’ annual Teddy Toss, and Scott Conway notched on the powerplay in a dominant first period for the Giants and while the Steelers did push back, Jordan Kawaguchi’s third period finish ensured the two points would stay in Belfast.
Now 12-4-2 on the season, the Giants are just six points back of the Devils with three games in hand, meaning that if they were to win those then they would draw level at the summit.
And on the basis of their recent performances, which have seen them smash in 16 goals and concede just two in their last three outings, they are a team starting to find the kind of form that will make them title challengers, if they weren’t already.
The Giants would pull out a two-goal lead in an utterly dominant first period in which they out-shot their visitors 21-5 and were virtually unplayable, with Steelers goaltender Matt Greenfield – 43 saves – the only reason the scoreline wasn’t any bigger.
An early Kevin Tansey penalty for Sheffield went unpunished but Carpenter was on hand to fire in the rebound off Pierre-Olivier Morin’s initial shot just after the halfway point of the first, which led to the teddies being launched onto the ice, and a Patrick Watling interference call led to Conway tapping in the second with 12.1 seconds to the intermission on the powerplay.
A scoreless second period saw Sheffield finally start to get some offense going only to be blanked by McCollum, although the netminder was fortunate to see an effort from Maxim Golod come off the base of the post, and the hosts also managed to play out penalties on McCollum (tripping) and Gabe Bast (delay of game).
And Kawaguchi would settle it 5:17 into the final period with a wicked shot from the right circle, finding the perfect angle into the top right corner for the finish, and McCollum completed the shut-out as, despite pulling Greenfield with six minutes remaining, the Steelers couldn’t beat the resolute Giants netminder late on.