Bravo Jackson Whistle. Mostly it is the goalscorers who get the plaudits for victories, this time though the Belfast Giants goaltender deserves to take all the praise.
After a techy, penalty-strewn game against Coventry Blaze that tooed and froed, particularly in the second and third periods, Whistle produced a match-winning performance.
Once Chase Gresock put Coventry ahead early in the second period the Giants reacted to lead 2-1 through goals from Scott Conway and Grant Mismash. Then after Terrance Amorosa struck to take the game into overtime Whistle effectively won the game for Adam Keefe’s team with his unbeatable presence contributing to a 2-0 shoot-out victory.
From being behind with games in hand the Giants now hold a five-point lead on the Cardiff Devils with two games more played and have the opportunity to extend that to seven points when they travel to Wales for a crunch top of the table clash tonight.
The first goal arrived on a powerplay 87 seconds into the second period.
Gabe Bast had just been sent to the box for an alleged check to the head and just over a minute later Gresock’s attempt to pick a pass to a team-mate ended in the net after hitting Pierre-Olivier Morin’s stick.
A five-on-three powerplay in favour of the Giants was too short — just nine seconds long — for them to be able to make the most of their numerical advantage, but while Alexander Kuqali was still in the box David Goodwin turned Bast’s pass into the path of Scott Conway and he hit a wonderful first-time strike past Mat Robson in the Coventry goal at 24:39.
Quickly the Giants struck again to turn the game around at 28:11, with Bo Hanson finding Grant Mismash and skated forward before sending a sweet strike into the top corner from the left circle.
Coventry’s third-period equaliser came on the only powerplay in the final 25 minutes of the game.
Brandon Alderson made the opportunity when he set up Amorosa and he slammed a shot from the blueline that flew past Whistle at 44:49.
The Giants got a perfect start in the shoot-out when Mismash scored and Whistle saved from Gresock to lead 1-0. Morin and Ben Lake couldn’t convert for the Giants and Whistle saved both Nick Seitz and Kim Talberg’s efforts.
That meant that after Piccinich scored, Michael Regush was in a position where he had to score to keep the shoot-out going and when Whistle saved it sparked victory celebrations in the stands.