Elite League
Saturday 16th February
The SSE Arena, Belfast
Stena Line Belfast Giants 4 1 Glasgow Clan
The Stena Line Belfast Giants maintained their chase on the Cardiff Devils at the top of the Elite League standings with a 4-1 home victory over the Glasgow Clan. Saturday’s win at The SSE Arena came with an impressive display from the home side.
Goals from Murphy, Shields, Riley and Rutherford helped the Giants to their second win over the Clan in three days following Thursday’s Semi-Final win. Both sides meet again on Sunday in Glasgow.
Tyler Beskorowany backstopped the Giants to Saturday’s win against the Clan with the home side missing Guillaume Gelinas, Jonathan Ferland and Andrew Dickson.
Murphy And Shields Put Giants In Front.
Belfast got off to the best possible start when Darcy Murphy finished off a nice move on the powerplay to edge the hosts in front after only 44 seconds.
Colin Shields doubled the Giants lead at 12:43, picking up on the loose puck from Dustin Johner’s shot.
Clan And Giants Trade Middle Period Goals.
Blair Riley’s top shelf effort at 26:40, assisted by Chris Higgins and Darcy Murphy, extended the hosts lead to three.
However the Clan hit back as Jack Musil, assisted by Rasmus Bjerrum and Zach Sullivan, made it a two-goal game at 27:32.
Rutherford Finishes Off Clan.
The Giants restored their three goal advantage with 3:16 to go thanks to a sweeping move as Chris Higgins skated the puck into the Glasgow zone, Jordan Smotherman pulled the Clan defenceman out of position, leaving David Rutherford to stick handle around Rumpel and finish into the roof of the net.
Final Score.
Stena Line Belfast Giants 4-1 Glasgow Clan
Giants Player of the Game.
#25 Blair Riley
Next Up?
The Giants clash with the Glasgow Clan again in Scotland on Sunday, face-off 4pm.
Next at home for the Giants is on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd February, when they will face the league leading Cardiff Devils for back-to-back crush games at The SSE Arena.
Tickets are now on sale from the Arena Box Office in person or by calling (028) 9073 9074 as well as online from: