Storm Come Up Short in Thrilling 6–4 Battle as Giants Strike Late at the Shelter
An exchange of early powerplays saw the Giants take the lead five minutes in as a shot from Lee at the point was deflected in by the stick of Twarynski. The visitors doubled their lead at the midpoint when Piccinich played a nice backhand pass to Goodwin who accurately placed the puck over Weninger’s shoulder at the far post. The Storm fought back in the later stages of the opening period with a flurry of chances which were kept out by the impressive Whistle.
Storm came out with intent in the second and it did not take long for a response on the scoreboard. A huge slapshot from Welsh left Whistle no chance after a clever pass by Caines behind the goal line found his line mate with time and space in front. An equaliser, on the powerplay, followed ten minutes later as Welsh became the creator teeing up Hannoun who lasered the puck past a helpless Whistle. The Giants would regain their one goal lead on the very next shift however as Eriksson found a loose puck after a scrappy passage of play around Weninger’s net. The home team again ramped up the pressure and levelled the game at 3-3 with a minute left in the second – Cutler doing the hard work in close, assisted by Hannoun.
Period three saw some back-and-forth hockey as both teams looked to gain an advantage. It was Goodwin for the Giants who broke the stalemate when a trickling puck was feathered across the goal line. Storm seemed determined to find the tying goal late in the game and the hard work paid off – a stylish finish by Hannoun beat Whistle up high after a give and go pass with Gilmour stretched the Giants defence. However, again the visitors hit back and took another one goal lead this time by Kawaguchi with just 2 minutes remaining in regulation. This prompted Critchlow to pull Weninger in a last-ditch effort to rescue at least a point. Unfortunately for the sold-out Shelter the Giants added an empty netter and secured a 6-4 away win.
