THE Belfast Giants completed a weekend of mixed fortunes last night when they fell to a 4-1 defeat against the Sheffield Steelers at the SSE Arena after beating the same opponents 2-1 on Saturday.
Chris Higgins got the overtime winner in the first game and was also on target in the rematch as he put the Giants in front. But the Steelers hit back with two goals in the first period and added one more in each of the next two sessions to emerge deserving winners.
The Giants had the benefit of an early power-play when Mathieu Roy was called for slashing after only 34 seconds but the Steelers killed the penalty. The roles were reversed six minutes later when Ryan Martinelli was penalised for hooking and it was five-on-three for 55 seconds when Alex Foster followed him into the box for holding.
But the Giants netminder, Stephen Murphy came to the rescue on a couple of occasions and the hosts were first to capitalise on a power-play shortly afterwards. With the Steelers a man down in the 10th minute, Jim Vandermeer and Blair Riley combined to set up Chris Higgins and he sent the puck into the net at the far post.
David Rutherford and Steve Saviano went close to adding a second on another power-play but were denied by Steelers goalie Ervins Mustukovs. Rutherford was then unlucky to the puck crash off the post but those misses were made to look costly when Sheffield scored twice in quick succession as the first intermission beckoned.
John Armstrong's first time shot ripped into the roof of the net on 19:19 giving Murphy no chance and 35 seconds later, Luke Ferrara created the chance for Yarod Hagos to score with a clinical finish to make it 2-1 to the visitors. Buoyed by those two quick-fire goals, the Steelers came out with all guns blazing at the start of the second period, forcing Murphy into several smart saves.
It was no real surprise when, on 30:36, the league champions increased their lead when the Giants lost possession and Roy had a one-on-one with Murphy and he made no mistake with a cool finish. The Giants' task became more difficult when after a bout of fisticuffs with Zach Ftzgerald and a subsequent heated exchange with the officials, team captain Adam Keefe was sent down the tunnel for misconduct with 7:11 of the second period remaining.
Derrick Walser had a couple of chances blocked in the last couple of minutes on a power-play but the Steelers held the upper hand going into the final 20 minutes. The Giants pressed hard to find the goal that would have given them some hope but could find no way past Mustukovs, who pulled off several fine saves.
In one last throw of the dice, the Giants withdrew Murphy to have an extra skater but the move backfired when, with 1:11 remaining Colton Fretter found the empty net.
