The Cardiff Devils will be heading home with plenty to work on after losing twice to the Belfast Giants over the weekend including a 5-1 loss on Saturday night in SSE Arena, Belfast.

The first period was all Belfast and they never looked back after opening up a comfortable lead in the opening 20 minutes.  Scott Conway opened the scoring for the Giants at 7:58 when a broken play sent him in all alone to beat Ben Bowns and make it 1-0. 

Less than two minutes later the home side doubled their lead when Chad Butcher jammed in a loose puck past Bowns at 9:25.  With just over 2 minutes to play in the opening period, Ciaran Long scored his second goal in as many nights to give the Giants a 3-0 lead at 17:53 with Gabe Best picking up the lone assist.

The Giants had an early powerplay in the second period when Ryan Penny was called for hooking, but the Devils managed to kill off the penalty.  The Devils finally got on the board at 27:41 when Joey Martin scored his second goal of the pre-season to make it 3-1. 

Just over two minutes later, the Giants had their 3 goal advantage back after Steve Owre finished off a pass from Butcher that fooled Bowns, making it 4-1 at 29:52.  The Devils had a 4 minute powerplay to get back into the game, but failed to convert.  They followed that up with another 2 minute powerplay but again could not find a way past Jackson Whistle in the Belfast net.

Will Kerlin replaced Bowns in net for the third period and was solid in his debut with the Devils.  Belfast added another goal at 49:16 from David Goodwin to round off the scoring for the Giants.  Despite some point blank chances at the end of the game, the Devils could not find another way past Jackson Whistle in the Belfast net and the game ended 5-1 for the Giants. 

Photos courtesy of William Cherry (Press Eye NI)