Giants steal narrow win

Giants: Through to semi-finals

Belfast Giants celebrated a 5-4 home win over Sheffield Steelers and guaranteed their place in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

A win for the Yorkshire outfit would have secured their place in the final four, but their chances still look good as it will take a road win from Edinburgh Capitals by five goals next weekend to deny them their spot.

It seemed the Giants had the game in the bag when they opened up a three goal lead, but Sheffield launched an impressive response that saw the Northern Irish outfit settle for a slender victory.

The hosts dominated early on, with Evan Cheverie opening the scoring at 1.20 and Pat Bateman doubling their lead five minutes later with a powerplay strike at 6.20.

A shorthanded goal at 14.10 from Jeff Szwez took the Giants into a 3-0 lead and the visitors did not reply until the last minute of the period when Brad Cruickshank netted the first of the match for the Steelers.

Craig Peacock reinstated the three goal lead for Belfast at 27.20 but a Jeff Legue shorthanded effort at 29.03 sliced the advantage back to two.

There was no more goal scoring until the third period, when Robert Dowd scored for the Steelers at 49.37 to make it a one goal game.

The home side were then made to sweat as Brad Cruickshank took his second goal of the game on the powerplay at 52.38 and balanced the score at four all.

The Giants dug deep and Brandon Benedict managed to find the game winner, netting at 55.23 on the powerplay and consequently sending the home side into the Challenge Cup final four.

Defeat

Nottingham Panthers suffered a 5-4 road defeat to Edinburgh Capitals, but remain at the top of the pile in the Elite League standings.

The two teams exchanged the lead throughout the match, which climaxed to a nervous finish when Cameron Mann scored for the visitors in the 54th minute, closing the home side's advantage to just one goal.

The Panthers had penalty problems late on and were called twice for having too many men on the ice, hindering their chance of a comeback and allowing the Capitals to snatch the points and move above Sheffield to claim sixth place in the table.

Mark Garside opened the scoring at 13.05 to take the home side into the lead and the visitors did not reply until the second period, when Dominic D'Amour evened the score at 25.13 and Sean McAslan added another at 29.41.

Capitals came back quickly with a powerplay strike by Owen Fussey at 31.17 and Scott McKenzie followed it up only 15 seconds later.

Neil Hay secured a 4-2 lead for the home team at 38.55 and the Panthers did not respond until the third period, when a goal by Kevin Bergin at 46.54 narrowed the lead to one again.

Edinburgh's two-goal lead was restored by Darius Pliskauskas with eight minutes to go, but the hosts were caused some concern when Mann found the back of the net with a shorthanded effort at 53.35 to keep the visitors in it.

However, the home side managed to hold on to the end to claim the points and move up in the standings.

Impressive

Cardiff Devils are the team to watch at the moment after building on their impressive form of late with a 2-1 road win over Coventry Blaze.

The victory marked six wins from seven for the Devils, but meant a fourth home loss at the Skydome already this season for Blaze.

The three goals of the match came in the second half of the game, with Ben Davies seeing the visitors ahead with a single strike in the second period before both teams netted another in the final session.

Both sides missed plenty of opportunities in the first twenty minutes but Davies finally broke through at 34.30, firing home for the Devils.

Blaze came more into the game in the third period and Danny Stewart made it all square at 47.07, but there was no time to celebrate as Phil Hill restored the visitor's lead at 48.52 with what turned out to be the final goal of the match, with the Welsh team taking home the points.

In other action, Newcastle Vipers inflicted an eighth successive loss on Hull Stingrays at Whitley Bay with a late goal by Mike Berry giving them a 2-1 success.

The visitors outshot the home side by 40-21 but were unable to pick up the points, with the game leaving them languishing at the bottom of the standings.

Stingrays appeared the stronger side after dominating the goalless opening period and breaking through at 24.42 when Adam Knight opened their lead.

Hull remained ahead until 41.03, when Jason Tejchma put the home side back in the game.

The visitors then looked more likely as the game progressed into the final minutes but were unable to get past Michel Robinson in the home net, and Berry netted the decisive goal for the home side at 58.25 to seal the match and bag the points.