Belfast rolled into Nottingham and stole two valuable points in their challenge cup qualifying quest. It was a tight game that could have went either way with Belfast out-shooting Nottingham 30-20 with both goalies in fine form.

It was Nottingham who took the lead after twenty two minutes when Marek Ivan scored with an assist going to John Craighead who has been having quiet season up to now. Going into the final frame the Giants needed a lift and that came from assistant coach Curtis Bowen who fired home his fifth goal of the season with an assist going to name-sake Jason Bowen.

The Giants kept the pressure on and with just under five minutes to go where rewarded for their efforts when coach Tony Hand fired home the game winner with George Awada picking up the assist. Hand the Giants top points scorer so far this season record his 6th goal of the year with the winning goal.

Nottingham Panthers 1-2 Belfast Giants

Panthers: Ivan 22:52.
Giants: C.Bowen 43:25, Hand 55:39.
(National Ice Centre, Nottingham).

Lines:
Huppe – Hand – Nasval
Johnson – C.Bowen – Awada
Morrison – Kelly – Levers

J.Bowen – Jamieson
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton 

 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).