The rubber really hits the road for the Giant’s season over the next number of weeks with a series of away league games beginning this weekend with a trip to Scotland.
Adam Keefe’s men will face Glasgow and Dundee on Friday evening and Saturday respectively, before further league games on the road against Cardiff and Coventry.
The Giants have had a successful Challenge Cup campaign, booking their place in the semi-finals of the competition as overall top seeds.
However, the men in teal have struggled with consistency in the league, finding themselves in fifth place and 8 points behind league leaders Cardiff Devils albeit having played less games.
It was around this time last season that injury problems and issues with form derailed the Giant’s campaign, with their late season fight-back ultimately not enough to salvage any silverware.
The Giants have certainly not suffered a mid-season capitulation but rather circumstances have gone against them a couple of times this season.
For example, last weekend Storm Bert didn’t help matters with the Giants being forced to wait for seven hours at Belfast City Airport before arriving and immediately taking to the ice against Nottingham Panthers.
To make matters even more difficult, the Giants arrived with a short benched roster and battled with 15 players to gain one point from their overtime 3-2 defeat to the English side.
Apart from putting a slight dampener on last weekend, two points from the win over Guildford Flames the previous night and a demonstration of resilience against the Panthers suggest the Giants don’t have too much to worry about.
Indeed, looking at the statistics from the season so far, the Giant’s fifth place in the league table is deceptive in terms of how they have fared in this league campaign.
Every other team apart from the Sheffield Steelers have played more games than the Belfast side. If the Giants pick up a few wins over the next block of games on the road they could surge to the top end of the table.
The Giants coaching staff will be pleased to note that their side have the joint second best defence in the league, having only conceded 32 goals. They also have the lowest average of ‘shots against’ in the league, which means they have been effective at limiting attacking opportunities.
It’s at the other end of the rink the Giants will be focusing their attention, with improvements needed in putting the puck in the net.
The Giants are currently sixth in the league for goals scored and average number of shots in a game.
Elijah Barriga is the side’s top scorer, having notched 9 in the league so far despite ranking fifth among his teammates for the number of shots taken.
They also sit fourth in effectiveness on the powerplay, which all suggests Keefe’s men need to be more clinical with their opportunities.
In terms of this weekend’s opposition, Glasgow and the Giants have both won three out of their last five games, however Glasgow sit second from bottom in the league. The Giants got the better of Glasgow in their most recent encounter, winning 5-1 in Belfast.
Dundee - who the Giants play on Saturday night - sit just one place below the Belfast side in the league however Keefe’s men have got the better of the Scottish outfit on all three meetings this season.
This block of away games could be make or break for the Giant’s league season, with momentum crucial for Keefe’s men as they seek to regain the league crown from Sheffield Steelers.
