08 Mar 2025, 19:00 | Regular season | SSE Arena Belfast |
Belfast Giants | 2-3 | Dundee Stars |
Periods: Shots: | 1-3 (12-18) | 1-0 (22-4) | 0-0 (33-6) | Total: 67-28 |
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Referees: #49 Daniel Ferguson, #19 Steve Brown  |  Spectators: 7012 |
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Goals and assists
Belfast Giants' final home game before the Challenge Cup Final saw
them beaten 3-2 by Dundee Stars in front of a 7,012-strong crowd at the
SSE Arena.
"It was amazing!" began Stars' Spencer Naas. "The whole
team contributed tonight, and Belfast really pushed hard, especially in
the last 40 minutes. Jarrett Fiske played amazing, and all the guys
bought in.
"It was a really gutsy performance. We spent the day on
the ferry, it was a long travel day and we were short-benched, but we
still found a way to get it done."
Dundee started the better of
the two teams, and they quickly opened the scoring. The goal came on
powerplay, with the Giants being called for too many men on the ice:
Nass was picked out in the right circle from behind the net by Philippe
Sanche and fired into the top corner past Jackson Whistle at 6:08.
The Stars doubled their lead just 109 seconds later, with Naas
getting his second goal. The Giants had a shot blocked and the rebound
fell to Naas, who skated away and only had Whistle to beat, which he
did, with a clinical finish into the roof of the net at 7:57.
Dundee put a third past a shell-shocked Giants team at 12:23.
Kyle Pouncy was found in the right circle and finished through Whistle's
five hole.
The Giants managed to pull one back before the end of the period
on a powerplay due to Dundee having too many men on the ice. David
Goodwin found Gabe Bast in the right circle, who finished well past
Fiske at 17:42.
Belfast pulled another back in period two and it was Bast again at 27:44 who brought them back to within one.
"There isn't really time for nerves in that situation. You're in
the heat of the game and things are happening fast so we were just
trying to lock in and do the best we can with what we've got," explained
Naas after the Giants pulled it back to 2-3. "We had a huge four-minute
penalty kill, which was crucial in the third period. We knew they were a
dangerous team but I don't think there was time for nerves in that
situation."
A double-minor on Alex Robert for a high stick led to
the Giants enjoying four minutes of a powerplay early in period three,
but to no avail.
With 5:36 to play, Pierre-Olivier Morin hit the crossbar of
Jarrett Fiske’s net in what was one of the closest the Giants came to
level. Whistle was pulled with 1:47 to play, but the Giants couldn’t tie
the game and slipped to their third straight defeat.
"We're hoping to get a couple of guys back at some point. We got a
huge win in Manchester and then came in here and got another huge win,
so we're just going to keep trying to ride this momentum and see if we
can carry it into the rest of the season" concluded Naas.