JJ Piccinich opened the scoring as the Belfast Giants moved eight points clear at the top of the Elite League with a comfortable win over the Sheffield Steelers on Friday [27 February].
Assisted by David Goodwin and Scott Conway, the American broke the deadlock after 15 minutes, beating Matthew Greenfield with a wrist shot off the rush.
Gabe Bast doubled Belfast’s advantage in the closing stages of the second period, unleashing a one-timer from the high slot as Sheffield’s attempt to defend a delayed penalty broke down.
Stephen Harper put the Steelers on the board with a powerplay goal of his own, before David Goodwin scored into an empty net to cement Belfast’s 3-1 win.
Elsewhere, the Dundee Stars produced a stunning offensive performance to down the Coventry Blaze 6-4.
Welcome to Around the Rinks, our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Friday, 27 February
Belfast Giants 3-1 Sheffield Steelers
Ryan Smith, Belfast Giants (Image: William Cherry)
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
Everyone was pulling the rope today: we won the first and second periods. There was probably a ten-minute spell in the second period when they had a lot of possession, but we did a good job defending it and I thought they had better chances in the first.
We had plenty of looks in the first and then, towards the end of the second, they took a penalty and we scored on the ensuing powerplay. They left Gabe Bast all alone in the slot and that’s not a wise play. And that was the difference in the game.
They scored on the powerplay, but we were able to see it out. It could’ve put our heads down or made us feel nervous, but we controlled play as much as we could. When they pulled the goalie, we had good sticks and blocks, making sure they couldn’t really get anything going.
I thought that was a key moment of learning how to win in many different ways. You need to be able to withstand pressure and the guys did that tonight.
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
I hated our start: I thought Belfast were all over in the first seven minutes. After that, we found our footing and we played really, really well from there on. I thought we were the better team by quite a bit in the second period, even though we lost the period.
Belfast defend really hard and aggressive and they do give some chances up as a result. We missed a couple of the backdoor. I can’t say enough about the effort and the pushback we’ve had tonight and on Wednesday [in the Challenge Cup against Nottingham]. It doesn’t get any easier against Cardiff on Sunday.
All in all, I’m pretty disappointed. This was an opportunity to close the gap, but these three games that we’ve lost are the difference in the standings. That’s hockey and we can’t be too disappointed with how hard we played. But we are disappointed with the result.
Dundee Stars 6-4 Coventry Blaze
Drydn Dow, Dundee Stars (Image: Derek Black)
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
I’m happy for the guys more than anything. We needed that [win] on home ice. We don’t make it easy on ourselves, but we found a way to win in the end. Mixing up the lines a little bit this week, we got six goals and I’m happy about that. Coventry’s on a good run of form, so it’s nice to catch them tonight and get some confidence in our group.
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
I certainly loved the compete from the last five minutes of the second period on. We didn’t have it at all in the first 35 minutes and I thought [Deshawn Stewart] kept us in it in the first. They came out flying and we weren’t surprised because we know they’re a heavy rush team.
Credit to Dundee and to our guys because they didn’t quit. We had a couple of grade-a chances at the end, but their goalie made some big saves. I felt like we were right there, but we weren’t really here to start. That happens sometimes and we move onto tomorrow.
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