As far as timing your first Elite League goal goes, it’ll be hard to beat Zak Galambos’ effort.
With Gabe Bast having just tied up the Belfast Giants’ game against the Cardiff Devils at Ice Arena Wales 3:54 into the second period, whichever team got their second goal was crucial.
Step forward Galambos, the defenceman jumping into the rush, taking Pierre-Olivier Morin’s cross-ice pass in the right circle and firing a bullet past Mac Carruth to put the Giants ahead.
It was important at the time and it proved to be even more so at the final buzzer, the American’s maiden League goal proving to be the game-winner in a 4-1 win for Adam Keefe’s men that took them seven points clear at the top of the standings as the calendar turns to February.
“I don’t know how many games I’ve played, I think I’m 15 games in or something, but it’s nice to get that one off the back!” grins Galambos.
It may have been a long time coming for his first goal in teal, but adapting to the professional game has come a lot smoother for Galambos.
The 27-year-old missed the first 10 weeks of the 2024/25 season after picking up a hernia issue in training camp but, since his return, he’s found life in the Elite League fairly straightforward.
“It’s been really good to be back out there. I hope I can stay in the line-up,” continues Galambos, who joined the Giants from Western Michigan University in the off-season.
“The big adjustment for me was the conditioning, but now that I’ve got that, I feel like I’ve adjusted very well. It’s very similar to the NCAA.”
Galambos isn’t the only one finding things easy right now – the Giants certainly are, too.
That’s now seven wins on the bounce for the League leaders and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down in their bid to reclaim the crown that slipped from their grasp in the 2023/24 season.
The victory over the Devils was perhaps their most impressive of the season thus far, Belfast ruthlessly shutting down nearly every burst up the ice from their hosts before they even got started, sending out a real statement of intent that they will stop at nothing in their bid to clinch back the title.
“Guys are really buying into what our game-plan is, and we’re trusting each other a lot more. We’re breaking pucks out real nice right now,” reveals Galambos.
“When the team has confidence, that gives us more confidence to go out there and make plays. It’s hard to win games consistently and we’ve done that, so it’s really impressive.
“It’s about trusting our game-plan and our team-mates, and that’s where the consistency will come from.”
While, on paper, taking on the sides ranked dead last and seventh in the League standings – the Giants on the road at the Fife Flyers on Saturday (7.15pm) and Dundee Stars on Sunday (5pm) – doesn’t exactly scream pivotal weekend, it could be just that.
That’s more down to what’s going on elsewhere in the Elite League over the next two days. While the Giants are up in Scotland, the second-placed Devils have a mammoth back-to-back at home to fourth-placed Nottingham on Saturday and then away on Sunday to third-placed Sheffield, who face Glasgow on Saturday.
Should they do the business over the Flyers and Stars themselves and the results in England go their way too, then the Giants could be as many as 10 points clear come the end of the weekend.
Slip up, however, and not only could their rivals creep ever closer but it would shatter the momentum they’ve built up recently.
“I’d say we’re on a decent high right now, but we know what’s expected of us to win this title, and we can’t take a night off because we won a big game like (Cardiff),” admits Galambos.
“Every weekend going forward from here is an important weekend because we’re focusing on extending our lead even more.
“We play in a good League and at any moment on any night, anyone can win. These are two big games, Dundee and Fife are two good clubs.
“We just go out there every night and it’s our goal to win.”