By Luke McGinnis
“The forwards have got to help out the defence — that’s the bottom line,” said Marc LeFebvre post-game. “I can’t fault the four defensemen, and Morten [Jürgens] did a good job for us. Hopefully we can get the other guys back in the lineup, we just don’t know when yet.”
The Stars began the first period firmly in control, generating a number of high quality scoring chances and testing Jackson Whistle early.
Despite this, it was Belfast who struck first, doing so at 15:57 through Gabe Bast. Emil Kruse was sharp and made an initial save on a shot from Marcus Eriksson, however Bast was first to the rebound and put it past the Swede to make it 1-0.
David Goodwin made it 2-0 sixty six seconds later, crashing the net and finishing off an individual effort by Mike Lee at 17:03.
Hampus Olsson came close to getting the Stars on the board in the dying seconds of the period, breaking in alone late against Jackson Whistle. However, the Giants netminder turned aside his shot, with the score remaining 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
A slashing penalty against Ciaran Long proved costly for the visitors, as Spencer Naas converted on the league’s top-ranked powerplay at 34:10 with a wrist shot from the point past Whistle.
“We’re getting scored on in all sorts of different ways on the penalty kill, but it’s nice to see the powerplay clicking. It’s keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win as well,” added LeFebvre on the Stars’ special teams.
After Emil Kruse took exception to a late slash by a Giants forward, a scrum ensued. In total, eighteen penalty minutes were handed out, setting up a tense third period.
Jake Gaudet restored the two goal lead for the Giants thirteen seconds into the third, pouncing on a faceoff win by Nicolas Guay and firing a shot past Kruse at 40:13.
Jordan Kawaguchi added a fourth goal at 49:14 on the powerplay, redirecting the puck past Kruse off a three-on-two rush to secure the two points for Belfast.
The Stars will now turn their attention to Sunday night, when they travel to Guildford for a massive clash against the Flames.
Looking ahead, LeFebvre concluded, “We’ve got to be dialled in throughout the whole game — we have to give ourselves a chance every game. Guildford come at you with a lot of speed, so we’ve got to figure out how to neutralise that. We beat them at home earlier in the year, but I’m sure they’ll be ready for us on Sunday.”
