Inconsistency has been the story of the Giants season so far and tonight it proved to be the case again. It was not surprising that they lost to Sheffield last night but tonight they where expected to get a result against the Phoenix. But in the playoffs anything can happen and the Giants took their 2004 playoff record to 0-2-0 when they where shutout by a good Manchester Phoenix side.

As is the Giants trademark they took some silly penalties and where punished for it. An opening power play goal for Manchester my Mark Bultje was the only scoring seeing the first two periods where the Giants actually out shot Manchester 16-11. Same old same old in the third period as the Giants again won the shout count 14-13 but lost on the score board when Mark Bultje scored again on the power play and when the Giants pulled goalie Colin Ryder Bultje scored into the empty net to record his hat-rick.

It now leaves the Giants in an uncomfortable position with two home games left and not a point yet on the board. Manchester and Sheffield have yet to play their two games against each other.

Manchester Phoenix 3-0 Belfast Giants

Phoenix: Bultje (pp) 4:47, Bultje (pp) 49:19, Bultje (e) 58:44.
Giants: None.

Giants Lineup: Ryder, Johnson, Jamieson, Stewart, Walton, Kelman, J.Bowen, Morrison, Ward, Finney, Sample, Ruff, Schulte, Finney, C.Bowen, McGimpsey.
Scratched: Martin (broken collarbone), Brittle, Carlon.

Yet another loss was handed out to the Belfast Giants tonight and this time by their former coach’s team, the Cardiff Devils. The Giants had a strong support of fans over for this game but it wasn’t enough to get them the win.

The moral and confidence remains at an all time low with the players but their effort in tonight’s game cannot be faulted. If the luck you get when your in form had been with the Giants they could easily have won this one, but as it was they didn’t get the bounces needed and again came away with a loss.

Paxton Schulte and Mark Morrison scored the goals for the Giants as Mark Morrison got his second ever goal in what many said was his best game for the Giants in a man of the match performance. It was two goals in quick succession however that spoilt the Giants chances.

The team will travel tomorrow up to Coventry for another game, their forth in five nights in what is turning out to be completely unfair and very tough schedule for the Irish team. But they will have to muster every piece of energy they have left if they are to pull a win out of the bag and break out of their slump.

Cardiff Devils 3-2 Belfast Giants

Devils: Brown (pp) 6:16, Phillips 6:23, Phillips 33:24.
Giants: Schulte (pp) 3:00, Morrison 13:07.

Giants lineup: Ryder, Johnson, Jamieson, Stewart, Walton, Kelman, Morrison, Finney, Sample, G.Martin, Ruff, Schulte, J.Bowen, Kelman, C.Bowen, McGimpsey.
Scratch: Ward (broken ankle), Taylor.

The Giants lost once again to make it four defeats in their last four games played. Colin Ryder turned aside 24 of the 27 Sheffield shots as a powerplay goal from each team and and two even handed goals by Sheffield gave the league leaders the maximum points.

The Yorkshire side had their first goal on the boards within the first few minutes when Mike Peron scored from Ron Shudra and hard nosed defencman Dion Darling. That was all the scoring for the first period and the Giants halted their comeback chances by taking four two minute minor penalties in the first period, though they could not score on their two powerplay chances Sheffield handed them in the period.

The second period brought more of the same as Giants players continued to go to the penalty box for minor penalties. The penalty kill couldn’t take it anymore and Sheffield scored their second goal of the night through the leagues top point getter Mark Dutiaume as Curt Bowen sat in the box for Slashing.

Just over seven minutes later Sheffield put the game beyond the Giants reach with another goal, this time through Marc LeFebvre with Ben Bliss picking up the assist. There was one positive for the struggling Giants team when Mark Finney scored his first goal as a Giants player on the powerplay, unassisted.

It was the second time in two games that the Giants have only managed one goal in the game and no assists as the Giants top line was once against kept quiet. The scores never changed the rest of the game and the Giants lost yet again.

The team are now 1-4-1 in their last six games and have only won one in their last six. The Giants are clearly missing the hard working Colin Ward from their top line, but hes not due back for some time yet and with a make or break game against the Steelers coming up on Friday night in the Odyssey it has turned into a must win game for the Giants.

Sheffield Steelers 3-1 Belfast Giants

Steelers: Peron 2:55, Dutiaume (pp) 24:03, LeFebvre 32:41.
Giants: Finney (pp) 39:58.

Giants lineup: Ryder, Johnson, Jamieson, Stewart, Walton, Kelman, Morrison, Finney, Sample, G.Martin, Ruff, Schulte, J.Bowen, Kelman, C.Bowen, McGimpsey.
Scratch: Ward (broken ankle), Taylor.

Nothing changed from last night as the Giants lost their third game on the trot, this time to Coventry Blaze by 5-1. The Giants who came out of the blocks with an early power play goal through Shane Johnson seemed to have gotten over last night, but a lack of Belfast discipline lead the way as Coventry scored 5 unanswered goals.

The Giants racked up a total of 52 penalty minutes including three ten minute misconducts and a fight for Paxton Schulte against Graham Schlender. The penalty kill seemed like the only thing on form however as with 9 powerplay chances for the Blaze they didn’t manage to convert on any.

Coventry are a rival for the Giants for the league title and this loss really puts a dent in the league championship race for the Giants. With two upcoming games against Sheffield and two more games over next weekend giving the Giants 4 games in 5 nights, they really will need to take almost maximum points from all games.

We’ll wait and see…

Coventry Blaze 5-1 Belfast Giants

Blaze: Schlender 25:39, Ruggles 29:35, Evans 30:55, Gallace 49:07, O’Brien 51:55.
Giants: Johnson (pp) 2:26.

Giants lineup: Ryder, Johnson, Jamieson, Stewart, Walton, Kelman, Morrison, Finney, Sample, G.Martin, Ruff, Schulte, J.Bowen, Kelman, C.Bowen, McGimpsey.
Scratch: Ward (broken ankle), Taylor.

 Giants came onto the Odyssey Ice hoping to make it four wins in a row and baring the first night defeat make it one of their best starts to a season ever. It was a win that sent the Giants top of the league and its something Stewart is very happy about.

“Its great news, It’s always nice to be top of the league but it’s still early on. We’re on a good little early run at the moment and all we want to do is keep building on it. We’ve alot of games right now and I know the guys are a little tired but we need as many victories as possible”.

Still without new signing Sean Berens who is waiting on a work permit the Giants got off to the perfect start after only 38 seconds when Paxton Schulte forced the puck in after some superb and strong work by the big man.

The Giants had the better of the period and should have put away two or three more good chances as they kept the pressure on in the Cardiff zone but still Cardiff looked dangerous and had their fair share of attacks and after tying the game on 4:25 with a soft goal that Colin Ryder really should have had they stuck again just before the end of the period with another soft goal against Ryder.

The Giants came out in the second period more determined to show that they where the better team in the game and although Cardiff had a few chances, Ryder was starting to get it together more and the Giants where looking sharp in attack and scored three unanswered goals through Curtis Bowen who scored with a fine backhander, Paul Sample, and the ever impressive Jason Ruff who was really putting in another superb performance with perfect passes, hard hits and great movement. The period wasn’t quite over and when Jason Bowen took a roughing penalty Cardiff took the opportunity to pull one back.

Into the third and at 4-3 there was still a chance for Cardiff and the game was fast flowing and end to end and physical at that. It took over thirteen minutes into the third before anyone scored and that was the Giants who scored through Curtis Bowen, who got his second of the night after superb work from Shane Johnson at the boards to skip past his man and push the pass to Bowen who had an empty net to shoot into.

That pretty much put the nail in the coffin as far as Cardiff where concerned though they kept at it and pulled their goalie for one last push but on a delayed penalty the Giants also pulled their goalie and the young Lee Jamieson picked up the puck and made a pass to Jason Ruff who from the blue line drilled the puck into the net to give the Giants the win and send them top of the table.

“This was a tougher game tonight than we had in Cardiff last weekend”, said Giants playing coach Rob Stewart, “The Devils play physical, but they have some talented guys and they made it difficult for us.”

Belfast Giants 6-3 Cardiff Devils

Giants: Schulte 0:38, C.Bowen 23:54, Sample 25:52, Ruff 35:28, C.Bowen 53:06, Ruff 59:20.
Devils:  Priest 4:25, Brown 19:14, Evans 39:50.
Att. 2,798 (Odyssey Arena, Belfast).