BELFAST Giants will need to improve their discipline if they are to have a chance of taking a lead into the second leg of the their Challenge Cup quarter-final against an in-form Cardiff Devils team, who visit the SSE Arena for the first time this season tonight.
Not only that but Adam Keefe's men will have to turn their shooting stats into goals, having been dogged by an inability to find the target on a regular basis.
In terms of shot-counts, the Giants are at the top of the charts so far in the current campaign but they lie in eighth place as far as conversions are concerned.
Their form has been inconsistent, to say the least, illustrated in microcosm last weekend in the Elite League double-header with leaders Sheffield Steelers in Belfast.
Having won the first game 6-2, they were on the end of an eight-goal turnaround when the Yorkshire franchise responded with a 4-0 victory on Sunday.
They ran into penalty trouble, after being called eight times, four in the second period alone, meaning they had to play short-handed for almost half of the middle session.
Although they managed to survive without conceding when they were a man down, their chances of scoring were limited by their exertions on the penalty-kill.
Cardiff are unlikely to be as forgiving in tonight's first-leg game, as they have the best power-play in the league, with a 28pc success record when having a man-advantage.
The Welsh side are also the most consistent team in the league at the moment, having won four out of four since losing twice at home to the Giants last month, scoring 25 goals and conceding 12.
In contrast, the Giants have won only twice and lost three times since their double success in Cardiff, not helped by their ill-discipline.
"It's really frustrating and we have got to find a way to turn things around although we have played well in patches," said Giants forward Jordan Smotherman.
"We didn't have the best of luck at the weekend, losing two players to injury but we didn't help ourselves by taking so many penalties in the second game
"When you are concentrating on keeping the puck out of the net, it kills any momentum you might have at the other end of the ice.
"So we need to try to keep it five-on-five as best we can and if we can do that, I think we can be dangerous and are capable of getting a big win over Cardiff to take into the second-leg."
