Debut double for Leduc but Giants fall against Devils

Jérôme Leduc made his debut on the ice for the Giants against the Devils. Credit: Presseye

  • Belfast Giants 3 - 4 Cardiff Devils

By Victoria Steveley

The Belfast Giants will rue giving up a three-goal lead over the league-leading Cardiff Devils only to lose out 4-3 on Friday night.

The Giants had a few personnel changes going into the game, with captain Adam Keefe and bench coach Rob Stewart serving their one game suspensions.

Head of Hockey Operations Steve Thornton and former player-turned commentator Shane Johnson were on the bench for the home side, while new signing Jérôme Leduc made his debut on the ice.

And the Québec native certainly made an impact, scoring two goals for the Giants in an intense game at the SSE Arena.

He grabbed the opener late in the first period, from assists by David Rutherford and Mark Garside.

Jérôme Leduc celebrates scoring for the Giants. Credit: Presseye

With just over 30 seconds to go in the period, Michael Forney struck from distance to make it 2-0 to the hosts.

In the second period, Leduc fired in his second goal to extend the Giants’ lead to three.

And Rutherford was unlucky not to make it four when he dinged the puck of the post off the Devils’ net just over two minutes later.

Michael Forney got his name on the scoresheet for the Giants. Credit: Presseye

Giants netminder Stephen Murphy was also proving instrumental to keeping that lead as the team headed into the final 20 minutes of action.

However, with the Devils having kept up the pressure on the Belfast side, they finally found their way onto the scoreboard with just over 15 minutes to go.

Mark Richardson managed to scramble the puck over the line to make it 3-1.

Then, with just over seven minutes to go, Cardiff were able to capitalise when the Giants failed to clear the puck and Sean Bentivoglio tipped it in to cut the Giants’ lead to 3-2.

From there, the wheels came off for the Giants and Joey Haddad grabbed the tie-up goal for the visiting Cardiff side with just over four minutes to go.

Two minutes later, the Devils found what was to be the winning goal courtesy of Patrick Asselin and the Giants just could not find away back.

Cardiff got back on track against the Giants in the third period. Credit: Presseye

Speaking after the game, coach Derrick Walser was clearly dejected by the result, admitting it was tough to take.

However, asked what his side needed to do to pick themselves back up again, he said simply: "Take a look in the mirror - and believe that they actually played a good game tonight."

Stating that he felt the Giants had played well for two periods, he added that they had run out of gas in the third after suffering as a result of losing too many face-offs and having to keep chasing the puck.

As for the mistakes on the ice, one was weighing heavier than the rest on Walser as he took full blame for a key goal for the Devils.

"I'm not disappointed in how the guys played - I'm disappointed in myself," he said.

"That goal ... I'm not going to throw the team under the bus. I'll throw myself under the bus any day of the week."

Walser did praise newcomer Leduc for his great start after just arriving in Belfast a day earlier.

However, the focus now turns firmly to Saturday's game and the effort to at least split the points with Cardiff.

  • WATCH: Giants coach Derrick Walser on that tough defeat

The Belfast Giants and Cardiff Devils meet again at the SSE Arena on Saturday, with face-off at 7pm.