Giants Extinguish Blaze In Friday Battle

Credit: William Cherry

Giants Extinguish Blaze In Friday Battle


The Stena Line Belfast Giants started well in an important weekend for the Elite League title race - defeating the Coventry Blaze 4-1 in Belfast on Friday.

Goals from Blair Riley, Darcy Murphy, Jordan Smotherman and Kyle Baun plus an impressive display in net by Stephen Murphy gave the hosts an important win.

The Giants keep up their chase on the league leading Cardiff Devils, who lie two points ahead having played one game less. Next up for the Belfast side is a re-match against the Blaze on Saturday night at The SSE Arena, face-off 7pm.

Stephen Murphy backstopped the Giants to Friday’s win against Coventry with the home side missing David Rutherford, Guillaume Gelinas, Tyler Beskorowany and Andrew Dickson.

Belfast Double In Opening Period

The hosts opened the scoring at 14:19 when Captain Blair Riley netted shorthanded with a cool breakaway finish.

Darcy Murphy doubled the Belfast lead at 19:44 with a fine effort, assisted by Kyle Baun and Pat Dwyer.

Coventry Reduce Deficit

The Blaze pulled one back in the middle period through Tim Crowder, assisted by Shawn Pauly, at 26:53.

Giants Complete Friday Win

The Giants sealed the win with two empty net finishes in the final minute of the game as Jordan Smotherman, 59:16, and Kyle Baun, 59:57, made sure of the home win.

Final Score
Stena Line Belfast Giants 4-1 Coventry Blaze

Giants Player of the Game
#31 Stephen Murphy