Flames lose on home ice

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Flames returned to home ice for their first game action since December 12th and found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-1 score against Belfast Giants.

Just over 4 minutes in, Giants took a lead when JJ Piccinich slipped one past Kevin Lindskoug, but despite their 15-6 shot advantage in the frame that turned out to be Giants only goal through 20 minutes.

In the middle frame, there were 8 minutes of penalties evenly split between the clubs, and Giants continued their shot lead, this time a 22-4 differential but both powerplays failed to connect, and Lindskoug turned it all aside to retain hope of a home team reply in the 3rd.

Unfortunately for Spectrum’s men, Giants finally extended further when Piccinich’s 2nd of the night made it a 2-goal spread. Flames did get one back at 51:13 thanks to Ian Watters, but 69 seconds later Ben Lake re-stored a 2 goal cushion Giants would not give up the rest of the way.

“Well, the good news was getting back to play, the bad news was definitely being 2nd in almost everything all night long,” admitted Paul Dixon.

“We knew it was going to be a tough ask to just jump back in, especially against a team that clearly is as good as anyone in the league, but we were hoping the excitement of just getting back to game action would be enough to push us through.”

“The guys tried their hardest as they always do, but in a way we are starting over a bit here, and hopefully a few more days on the ice and more game action coming right away will help us settle back into the kinds of performances we have come to expect from ourselves.”