Sunday Life by Nigel Ringland - Belfast Giants coach Ed Courtenay demanded a big improvement from his team last night.

He’d read the riot act after the poor performance against the Cardiff Devils on Thursday night insisting it was “the first time in my coaching career that I was disappointed with my team.”

What he received in last night’s 3-1 win over the the Hull Stingrays was more effort but not the 60 minutes of hockey he had been hoping for.

With Courtenay’s harsh words ringing in their ears, the Giants came out hard, finishing their checks but despite that they produced no early clear cut scoring chances and after being called for the first four penalties of the game they had to rely on goalie Mike Minard, who was outstanding, to make a string of fine stops.

Skating four-on-four the Giants took the lead at 12:58 when a good forecheck by Mark Dutiaume won the puck and he put it on a plate for Todd Kelman to blast home past netminder Miroslav Bielik.

It was 2-0 at 18:25 when Jeff Hutchins snapped up a rebound after a mistake by the Stingrays goalie.

The second period was a non-event and the crowd had to entertain themselves with a Mexican wave.

“I thought given the situation in the first period after we’d killed the early penalties and come back with two goals, the guys would come out hard in the second period but it didn’t happen and once again it wasn’t a 60 minute effort.

“Obviously I’m pleased with the two points and for the most part the way they played in the third period but if we’re playing Nottingham, Coventry or Sheffield then it’s 2-2 at the end of the second period. I was disappointed and it’s still a concern of mine but at this stage of the season two points is two points,” added Courtenay.

The Giants got plenty of practice on the penalty kill which stood up well and they finally scored on the powerplay at 47:35.

After nearly running out of time on a lengthy 5-on-3 and not looking good Dutiaume decided that passing the puck was doing no good so he took the outlet pass from Minard, waltzed up centre ice into the slot and fired the puck over the left shoulder of Bielik for a fine individual goal.

The third line of Mark Morrison, Gareth Martin and Marc Levers got powerplay time near the end and produced the shift of the game that almost ended with Martin getting on the score sheet.

Back-up netminder Kevin Kelly also made his debut, replacing Minard for the last few minutes, making a couple of good saves but he could do nothing with a Lee Mitchell redirect from close in that broke up the Giants shut-out bid with 27.3 seconds remaining.

The Giants went back to the top of table with the win - a point ahead of Nottingham - but have now played three games more.

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