Elite League: Title race to go down to the wire as Giants lose at home
Belfast Giants 1 Manchester Storm 5
The Elite League title race will go down to the final weekend after home defeat for the Belfast Giants.
After Saturday's victory over Fife Flyers, Adam Keefe's side couldn’t make it a four-point weekend on home ice as Alexis D’Aoust’s hat-trick helped the Manchester Storm secure a 5-1 win at the SSE Arena, Belfast on Sunday.
David Goodwin struck the Giants’ only goal of the game as their lead at the top of the standings was reduced to one point heading into a blockbuster final weekend double-header with the Nottingham Panthers.
The Storm got on the board with their first attack of the game just 27 seconds in as Tom McCollum made the initial save on Joe Morrow’s shot, but D’Aoust followed in to sweep home the rebound.
The Giants weren’t behind for long though as Goodwin tied it up at 5:31, with the winger’s shot hitting the shoulder of David Tendeck and looping in, although they needed McCollum to make a massive stop in front to deny Martin what looked like an empty net tap-in, the goaltender somehow recovering to make a stunning glove save.
The visitors would forge ahead again at 12:36 as D’Aoust grabbed his second, his long shot through traffic going all the way in with McCollum unsighted.
The Giants ended the period on the penalty kill as Mark Cooper sat for tripping shortly after Jordan Kawaguchi hit the post from the angle.
The hosts began the second period by killing off the remainder of Cooper’s penalty and began to lay siege to Tendeck’s net, but the Storm netminder was equal to all that was thrown at him, making a string of impressive stops to deny Goodwin and Conway, while Martin and Jake Durflinger both saw big chances fired wide of the cage at the other end for the Storm.
The Giants just couldn’t find that breakthrough, with Tendeck’s best save coming when Mike Lee ripped a slapshot on target on the powerplay - Stephen Johnson off for tripping - while at the other end McCollum, a virtual spectator in the second period, needed to be sharp when Owen Griffiths fired in from the angle.
A hairy moment for Tendeck saw the Storm netminder fail to properly glove a Gabe Bast effort and the puck trickled inches wide of the net, and the Giants would, like the first period, end the frame on the penalty kill as Zak Galambos was penalised for tripping.
Once again the Giants started the period by killing off the remainder of the penalty and then Conway was denied in close on the backhand by Tendeck after both he (tripping) and Loren Ulett (elbowing) were penalised but, despite the weight of chances, still they couldn’t find that killer goal.
The Storm did as D’Aoust completed his hat-trick, as a turnover in the defensive zone allowed Martin to feed it back in front for the league’s leading scorer to fire home at 49:08 to make it 3-1. Tendeck added further to the belief that this was to be the visitors’ night when he made a remarkable shoulder save on a JJ Piccinich effort.
Storm made the game safe with two late goals as Johnson sauced the puck over for Tyler Hinam to tip in at 56:44 and then Martin rounded off the as he added an empty-netter at 58:40.
The Giants now prepare for a massive final weekend of the regular season, which consists of a home-away double-header with the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday April 5th at The SSE and Sunday April 6th at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.