THE Belfast Giants have another chance to make up ground on Elite League leaders the Cardiff Devils when they take on Coventry Blaze at the SSE Arena on Monday.
Last Friday's 5-3 win over Braehead Clan at the same venue enabled Derrick Walser's team to narrow the gap at the top to just four points. The season is entering a crucial phase for the Giants, who then face back-to-back home matches against defending champions the Sheffield Steelers on Saturday and Sunday.
Win their next three matches and the prospects of ending a trophy-drought before it reaches a third season will be very much alive. However, Walser insists every game must be treated on its merits and will be urging his players not to gaze too far into the future.
"We've five games against Sheffield, five against Cardiff and four against the Nottingham Panthers but, right now, it's about the survival of the fittest," said the 38-year-old Canadian.
"But we've got to just look at each game individually and not look too far down the road. I think that was something we did last year when we were trying to catch everyone so our next focus is Coventry. If you win your games one-by-one, then you've a shot at it, but the focus has to be on winning the next game."
There should be room for optimism going into the third of five successive home games tonight against a Coventry side that has blown hot and cold this season. The Giants have played them on six previous occasions since September winning four times and losing twice, the last game resulting in a 3-0 road victory on December 18.
Walser was happy at the way his team bounced back from Wednesday night's loss to Manchester Storm with that 5-3 victory over the Clan last Friday night: "We did a hell of a job to shut them down; when you're tired like we were on Wednesday, you don't move your legs right," he added.
"It's going to be a long year; it's hockey in a hurry but you could feel the energy in the locker-room before the Braehead game; the guys were dialed in and focused on the task ahead of them. No one is going to go 30 and 0 or 25 and 0 in this league, you're going lose games and it's how you react and we reacted well against the Clan.
"I wasn't happy about conceding after only 20 seconds but the guys stood up and we got one goal then we got two. Before the third period, we had a nice chat about shutting the game down and I thought we did a fantastic job in that respect."
