Flames could only manage a single and Belfast Giants scored against no reply in each of the 2nd and 3rd periods to break up a 1-1 game on the way to a 3-1 defeat of Spectrum’s men in game 2 of the Northern Irish doubleheader.
At 10:40 Kohei Sato opened the scoring for Giants, but Flames hit back immediately with a Peter Crinella reply 31 seconds later and the clubs remained that way through the end of the 1st.
A little over 5 minutes into the 2nd, Daniel Tedesco nudged Giants back into the lead, but this time they held the advantage as the evening rolled over into the final set.
On a powerplay at 48 minutes exactly, Will Cullen opened the spread it a 3-1 gap. About 4 minutes from time a major penalty and game misconduct to Brett Ferguson ensured the visitors would have to see the game out a man short and another minor to Steve McParland 61 seconds from time put them down a pair of skaters as the evening closed.
Taz Burman was 31 for 34 on shots he faced while Jackson Whistle turned away 18 of 19.
“We have played an awful lot of hockey recently and we are a frustrated and tired group of guys, but the schedule is not getting any easier in the short term,” said Paul Dixon.
“We are up to Dundee on Wednesday and between now and then we will try to find some answers for what has turned into a pretty difficult run of games.”
“We have to stay positive and work our way through this. We did that at the beginning of the season when we found ourselves on a stretch of similar results where scoring was hard to come by and we will have to find a way again.”
