Getting to the top of the league was only half the battle for the Belfast Giants.
Having now entered the business end of the season, the battle isn’t over for Adam Keefe’s men who will be fighting to maintain their seat at the top of the table for the rest of the season.
After four months of waiting, the Belfast Giants moved to the top of the league standings in mid-January after a hot run of form.
Keefe’s side are showing no signs of taking their foot off the pedal as they secured a 3-2 overtime win over Coventry Blaze on Saturday night in Belfast followed by a 4-1 away win over Cardiff Devils the following evening.
The pair of wins extends their lead over second placed Cardiff by seven points although Cardiff have two games in hand.
Things are beginning to click for the Belfast side who are on a mission to regain the three available trophies currently held by reigning treble champions, Sheffield Steelers.
Seven wins in a row is a sign the Giants are on the right trajectory and Sunday night’s comprehensive win over Cardiff is a statement of the Giant’s title winning credentials.
Somewhat surprisingly, it was the home clash with Coventry Blaze on Saturday night which proved to be the more tricky of the two encounters.
With regular time unable to separate the two sides, Adam Keefe’s side took away the two points after winning on penalties.
After a scoreless first period, it was the visitors who took the lead after a deflected shot found its way past goalie Jackson Whistle.
However, it didn’t take long for the Giants to hit back, with Scott Conway rifling in a slapshot on the powerplay to level the scores before Grant Mismash struck for his side’s second goal of the period to give his side the lead.
The third period saw the Blaze draw level and the Giants resisted some late pressure to take the game into overtime.
The back-and-forth continued in overtime but the game went into penalties, with Jackson Whistle stopping all four of Coventry’s efforts and JJ Piccinich and Grant Mismash both slotted home to take the win.
The main event on Sunday evening was to follow, with the Giants travelling to the Ice Arena in Wales to take on Cardiff.
Keefe’s side had a frustrating start, with Ryan Barrow scoring for the hosts in the first period despite the Giants looking more dominant in the early exchanges.
The Giants started the second period with attacking intent, scoring within a few minutes from a Gabe Bast effort followed shortly after by a strike from Zak Galambos to put the visitors ahead.
The Belfast side continued on their upward trajectory, with Jordan Kawaguchi and Grant Mismash combining well before Ben Lake finished well at the far post.
JJ Piccinich sealed the win with a goal to make it 4-1 and Jackson Whistle did well on several occasions to prevent the hosts mounting a late comeback.
Speaking after the game head coach Adam Keefe praised his side’s efforts.
“I’m very happy. It was a character win for us.” Keefe said.
“It was a rough travel day and there was every reason to use that as an excuse, so that was one of the challenges to not allow that to enter our minds.
“We understood what was at stake and we knew the first period was very important. They went ahead but we regrouped between period one and two and there were some big time plays and big time finishes by Bast and Galambos.
“Everyone was pulling the rope tonight and it was a pretty clinical job we did in the third period. They out-shot us but they struggled to get into our zone and our guys did a good job in their third game this week and got the job done.”
The Giants will now turn their attention towards further consolidating their position at the top of the league as they remain on the road with games against Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars next weekend.
