In a complete turnaround from last week's performance the Belfast Giants twice countered the Nottingham Panthers lead to skate off eventual 4-2 winners in the first game of this weekend's double header.
With both teams giving no less than 100% it seemed as if the first period was ending in deadlock.
However confusion on the Giants blue line as they were breaking out of the zone resulted in the puck getting turned over to the Panthers and Sean McAslan managed to squeeze the puck past Stephen Murphy to give the travelling team the advantage going into the 1st intermission.
The Giants got back on level terms in the second with a powerplay strike at 22:28 from Michael Jacobsen.
The Giants had spent the majority of their time with the man advantage camped in the Panthers zone, taking shots from tight angles which were easily turned away by StPierre. Some hard work down low from Szwez and Faubert presented an opportunity for Jacobsen to step into a onetime shot from the point which found the bottom corner.
David Clarke restored the Panthers lead just over a minute later when he netted on a feed from Jade Galbraith at 23:21.
Pierre Luc Faubert tied the game one again brought the Giants back to level pegging with only 1:54 remaining in the period when a reverse feed from Colin Shields found Jeff Szwez in the slot. StPierre was able to make a save however Faubert was all over the rebound and smashed it into the Panthers goal.
The third period followed along the same lines as the previous two with both teams having numerous scoring chances, turned away by the goaltenders who would turn out to each receive their teams man of the match awards.
The Giants had a 5on3 powerplay opportunity which they failed to convert on, however as Corey Neilson made his way back to the ice, Michael Jacobsen fed the puck to Colin Shields who's one time shot was saved by StPierre only for Jeff Szwez to sneak in at the back post to send the Giants into the lead for the first time in the game.
With the seconds ticking down the Panthers were forced into pulling their netminder in an attempt to level the score.
The Panthers couldn't get the puck deep in the Giants zone and Pat Bateman was able to skate the puck to the empty net and round off the game with a 4-2 result.
(Match Report: www.belfastgiants.com)
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