Published Monday, 21 November 2011
The leaders were pushed all the way against their Scottish opposition but came through to take the narrow win on a night which saw their nearest rivals, the Nottingham Panthers, defeated.
Both sides scored early with Stars player/coach Dan Ceman firing his side ahead after only 85 seconds but Darryl Lloyd levelled for Giants 12 seconds later.
A powerplay strike by Ryan Crane at 7.34 edged the visitors ahead and their lead was extended at 12.45 thanks to skipper Jeremy Rebek.
A J MacLean later pulled one back for the home side and ended a thrilling opening period.
The game was a lot tighter in the middle session, with only a single goal scored - but it was the tying strike for Stars as Ross McIntosh was on the spot to shoot home at 29.16.
Both sides went for the regulation win in the third period but with both defences on top there was no addition to the scoring.
The Giants, aided by a cross checking call on Stars' Alan Mazur, dominated the extra five minutes but were unable to claim the spoils at that point.
Craig Peacock found the net in the shoot-out to see a relieved Giants pick up a four-point weekend.
Meanwhile, the Panthers went down 3-2 after overtime away to their rivals the Sheffield Steelers in South Yorkshire on Sunday.
The Cardiff Devils edged the Coventry Blaze 5-4, while the Hull Stingrays won 3-2 at home to the Fife Flyers and the Edinburgh Capitals were victorious with a 4-2 win over the Braehead Clan in an all-Scottish affair.