Belfast Giants head coach Adam Keefe is still confident his side can close out their good position in the Elite League title race, despite passing up a huge opportunity to consolidate their lead by conceding five unanswered goals in the final 13 minutes to blow a two-goal lead at the second-placed Sheffield Steelers.
It looked like the Giants would open up a 10-point lead at the top of the League standings as they led – and comfortably so – by two goals at the second intermission at the Utilita Arena thanks to Josh Roach’s fourth goal of the 2024/25 season and David Goodwin’s second since his mid-season return to the club.
But the home side, who had shown little signs of life up to that point and had barely tested Jackson Whistle in the Giants net, found their feet when Marc-Olivier Valler struck with exactly 13 minutes remaining, and they went on to take the lead through a double from former Giants forward Robert Dowd before adding two empty-netters to close to just six points behind.
It’s undoubtedly a blow for the Giants, who fall to 28-8-3 on the season and, rather than move further clear at the top, instead see the defending champions close to three games back with 15 remaining, and that gap could be closed even further as the Steelers have a game in hand on them, too.
But more than that, they will know that this is one that really got away from them, the League leaders well in control of proceedings for the first two periods and the early part of the third only to throw it away, albeit with the two empty-netters adding some considerable gloss to the scoreline.
“I thought the first 40 minutes was great from our team. We played like a first-place hockey team,” began Keefe, whose side welcome Challenge Cup Finalists the Cardiff Devils to the SSE Arena for a double-header next up.
“The final 20 minutes was all Sheffield. They showed their class and why they’re the reigning champions. They elevated their game and we didn’t. Not a lot of composure from our group, which was disappointing to see.
“You lose that hockey game, that’s disappointing to see, but we’re still in a good position moving forward. We have to learn a lesson from that and bounce back because we have a massive weekend (coming up) versus Cardiff.”
The Giants were good value for their two-goal lead, Roach firing them ahead at 13:15 when he roofed the puck over Matt Greenfield – 28 saves – from the left circle, and then Goodwin doubled their advantage 54 seconds into the second period as he prodded in after Mark Cooper’s tenacious work behind the net.
Indeed, the only disappointment about the performance was that the Giants weren’t further ahead by the second intermission as Goodwin had hit the post on a first-period powerplay, while Greenfield made some timely saves to keep Sheffield still in the game.
Having controlled the game up to that point, the Giants looked well on course to open up that 10-point lead at the top, but Vallerand’s fine finish from the slot at 47:00 got the Steelers, and the Utilita Arena crowd, back into the game, and then Dowd tied it on the powerplay at 53:17 after the Giants were caught for a very avoidable too many men on the ice penalty.
That set up a big finish, but the Steelers were the ones who rose to the occasion, a misplay at the back from the visitors allowing Dowd to rifle in the winner at 56:19, with Patrick Watling and Brandon Whistle adding a pair of empty netters in the final two minutes to prevent overtime.