The Belfast Giants are another step closer to claiming the regular-season crown.
Adam Keefe’s squad bulldozed the Dundee Stars 7-0 on Sunday [22 February], taking their championship lead to six points on a weekend that saw the Sheffield Steelers, Cardiff Devils and Nottingham Panthers drop points.
The Coventry Blaze topped the Manchester Storm in overtime to move within three points of Cam Critchlow’s fifth-placed side, while the Fife Flyers punched back with a 6-5 win over the Dundee Stars at the foot of the table.
Welcome to Around the Rinks, our daily summary of every Elite League team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 22 February
Nottingham Panthers 3-2 Cardiff Devils (Shootout)
Around the Rinks: Mitchell Fossier, Nottingham Panthers (Image: Panthers Images)
Danny Stewart, Nottingham Panthers:
It was a good game of hockey, certainly entertaining. I liked our first period, I thought we were really strong. I liked our second and felt that a two-nothing lead was right.
I wasn’t crazy about the third period. Although we protected the middle, we sat back and gave them a bit of time in our zone. On one hand, you can say that two of their goals were pretty lucky. At the same time, that’s the risk if you give the other team time in your zone.
Overtime was just pure chaos. There were probably eight or nine penalties that they let go, which is good, let the players decide it, but I don’t know why they called the one at the end. Thankfully, it didn’t effect the result in the end.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
I thought we pushed back hard in the third period. We didn’t take advantage of the four-on-three and we really had to. That is, without doubt, our achilles heel and drains us of any good energy at times.
We grip our sticks too tight on the powerplay and we need to work on that. All in all, I’m happy that we came away with a point today.
Sheffield Steelers 6-3 Guildford Flames
Around the Rinks: Stephen Harper, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Dean Woolley)
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
It was a big two points: we outshot them 17-3 in the first and went up two-nothing. We scored two quick ones in the second, but momentum is huge in this game, and we turned pucks over that ended up in our net.
Frustrated that we let them back into the game, but happy that we found a way to extend our lead when it was back to being a one-goal game. Again, we need more of what we had in the first period.
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
To be fair, it’s probably the right score in the end, if I’m brutally honest.
We didn’t have a lot of jump in our game, particularly in the first period. Sheffield seemed to win those battles up and down the ice.
We made the goalie switch: it wasn’t necessarily for [Justin Fazio], it was a message to the team. Sometimes, when you make that switch, it can inject something into the team and it worked for a time.
We got ourselves back to 4-3 and the next game was always going to be the decider and unfortunately Sheffield got it.
If I have to weigh the whole game up, we were second-best all night long.
Fife Flyers 6-5 Glasgow Clan
Around the Rinks: Shane Owen, Fife Flyers (Image: Jillian McFarlane)
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
It was a great game by Shane [Owen]: 50 shots on goal and he made some huge saves for us. I’m really happy for the guys [for] playing with such a short bench and scoring three goals in the final period of the weekend. It’s pretty rewarding for the group.
Mike Sirant, Glasgow Clan:
Well, we can’t be happy with that. Being up 5-3 in the third period, you can’t be giving away that lead. Five goals should be enough to win the game. I give Fife credit: they kept pushing all game. But we should’ve never let that one get away from us. We’re not happy with the result.
Belfast Giants 7-0 Dundee Stars
Around the Rinks: Belfast Giants move six points clear at title summit — Jordan Kawaguchi, Belfast Giants (Image: William Cherry)
George Awada, Belfast Giants:
Friday was a good win for us on the road and we knew that we had to follow that up. It was a good home win. We wanted a four-point win and our start solidified that for us because we had four lines rolling.
[Jake] Kupsky was huge and all four lines were pulling. Our defence played well and moved the puck up. We had some good spots from everyone, which is what we needed to close off the weekend.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
I thought we were still on the ferry for the first period. We switched some lines around for the second and I thought we had a very good period for the most part. Again, like our season, we just can’t capitalise on the chances we get and our mistakes are punished.
We had ten pretty good minutes to start the third period and created some good opportunities, but we just collapsed. It’s been our year. We just can’t get ourselves out of adversity.
It starts with capitalising on our chances and starting on time. It’s something we have to address in this last stretch of the season.
Coventry Blaze 2-1 Manchester Storm
Mat Robson, Coventry Blaze (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Coltyn Bates, Coventry Blaze:
We’re obviously happy: it was a good weekend with four points. I liked our start and felt that we deserved the points today. I thought [Drew DeRidder] kept them in it, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
I didn’t like our start: I thought our first period was sluggish, which was disappointing. We really turned it on the second and third. Both teams generated energy from the fight and I really liked our physicality tonight. We were heavy, on pucks, and made them work for it.
Ultimately, we just didn’t have enough guys going tonight. DeRidder was solid in net. [Mat] Robson was solid as always. It was a good hockey game: we’ve gone to overtime with the Blaze in every game this year. It’s a grind and we’ve got to keep chugging along.
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