Belfast Giants vs Glasgow Clan

The Premier Sports sponsored Glasgow Clan picked up a point on the road in their first of two meetings with the Belfast Giants but were beat by a quickdraw overtime winner.

The Giants got the better of the chances in the opening period with David Goodwin having a wide open look at net from close-range in the opening minute but he lost control before he could get a shot off.

Rob Lachowicz dumped the puck around the boards in the Clan zone in an attempt to escape the Clan zone under Belfast pressure and the puck bobbled out to Ryan Smith all alone in the slot with Lucas Brine having to rescue the Clan with a shoulder save.

Smith opened the scoring later on though with Ben Lake batting two shots on net, both saved by Brine, before the #88 arrived to force a third shot over the line.

In the second period, Goodwin sent wide a seemingly easy rebound after a Scott Conway shot was kicked back into the slot by Brine.

The Giants started to slip later in the middle frame with Langan cracking a shot from deep on net which Jackson Whistle had to blocker away before catching a Cade Neilson slap shot after a misplaced pass from Karl Boudrais.

Glasgow’s pressure paid off in the end as Colton Poolman generated space from the point and slapped a powerful shot, which was heading wide, into the danger area for Jason Fram to redirect past Whistle and tie the game up.

Belfast responded quick with JJ Piccinich finishing off a nice move from Goodwin and Gabe Bast with a slick finish at the backdoor before Ben Lake doubled their lead 60 seconds later.

Clan got one back with Fram notching his second of the game by stuffing a rebound of his own shot past Whistle before the end of the second period.

Brayden Burke was then denied on a breakaway after a great feed from Tristin Langan as Whistle got his glove across his body to prevent an equaliser before the final frame.

Clan did level it in the third period though as Rylan Schwartz parked in front of the Belfast crease and tipped Miihkali Teppo’s blast from distance to redirect it past Whistle and tie the game up.

Giants newcomer, Carsen Twarynski sent a shot from the boards int0 the crease which was tipped past Brine by Bo Hanson and swept clear off the line by Joe Hazeldine with some last ditch defensive heroics.

Langan and Steven Seigo then broke out on a breakaway with Langan playing a great saucer pass to Seigo on an amazingly quick run up the right wing but his shot was gobbled up by Whistle.

Belfast held all control in the closing minutes with Reid Irwin and Mike Lee coming close to a late winner for the hosts but both denied by the blocker of Brine.

The game was sent to overtime but the sudden death period was short-lived as Mike Lee burst up ice off the faceoff and sent home the winner after just 8 seconds for the Belfast Giants as both teams are set to go again tomorrow at Braehead.