Following an uncharacteristic losing skid last week, the Belfast Giants are back on track, sealing wins over Guildford Flames (3-1) and Coventry Blaze (5-2) on the road this weekend.
There will be a sense of relief from Giants fans and coaching staff that last weekend’s brief losing skid - 6-4 against Coventry Blaze and 5-1 against Nottingham Panthers - did not turn into a streak.
Indeed, it was around Halloween last year that Adam Keefe’s men endured a difficult spell which saw them slide down the league.
Well, it appears the Giants have successfully corrected course with a couple of confidence-building wins.
The key will be maintaining consistency across an intense and attritional league season - something which eluded the men in teal in their bid to defend their Grand Slam trophies last season.
On Saturday night the Giants had the game wrapped up early, with three first-period goals.
The Giants combined well on the powerplay to get their side off the mark, with Pierre Olivier Morin rifling a rebound from Grant Mismash’s initial effort into the roof of the net.
Less than 30 seconds later Elijah Barriga doubled his side’s advantage and Grant Mismash added the icing on the cake as the game was heading into the first interval, firing a shot past the Guildford goalie to make it three.
A solitary goal from the Flames’ Charlie Dodero kept them in the game but, despite a spirited effort, the English side could never get back within touching distance and the Giants left with two points.
Speaking after the game, Giants head coach Adam Keefe praised his side’s effort.
“I loved the first period - we came out and built ourselves a nice lead,” Keefe said.
“The second period I thought we had a real push back from Guildford which fatigued us a little bit.
“The third period we were really fatigued and we struggled to break their pressure. That being said, we were short-benched and I thought the guys battled really hard to see out the game and hold off the onslaught coming from Guildford.
“We had some big powerplays and big blocks and Tom was fantastic once again in nets. I think we need to do a better job of controlling the puck and managing the game and also the fatigue issue that happened in the third period.
Overall, I love the fact that the guys stuck together and battled for the cause.”
Sunday night was a chance at redemption for last weekend’s loss against the Blaze in Coventry’s SkyDome arena.
Adam Keefe’s men took the lead, with Scott Conway on hand to slot a rebound.
The Giants would continue this weekend’s theme of a dominant first period, with JJ Piccinich capitalising on the powerplay to fire home a backhander.
Piccinich grabbed his second goal of the game in the second period to make it three.
It was not as straightforward for the Giants as the previous night in terms of seeing out the game, with Coventry battling back and scoring two goals in the second period through Chase Gresock and Morten Jurgens, putting their side back within touching distance.
However, Piccinich added the finish to some slick build-up play, securing his hat-trick in the third period.
Bo Hansen capped off the win with a late strike from a Josh Roach assist to make it five.
A well-deserved four points go to the Giants as they returned to winning ways this weekend, however, they won’t have long to rest on their laurels with a clash against Glasgow Clan coming up on Wednesday in Belfast.
