With a record of just three wins in their last 10 games, the Belfast Giants need something to change if they are to get their Elite League title defense back on track. For head coach Adam Keefe, it’s a simple fix: do more.
he Giants looked to have righted the ship somewhat with a 4-3 win over the Dundee Stars on Sunday, their first victory in four outings, but it all came crashing down again on Thursday evening as they blew a two-goal lead at the Motorpoint Arena and lost 3-2 in the first leg of their Challenge Cup Quarter-Final to the Nottingham Panthers.
That can be parked until the second leg at the SSE Arena on January 4, at least, but the problems still persist for the inconsistent Giants, who have ranged from excellent to downright awful all in the space of the last month and a half and are now staring a 15-point deficit to the League-leading Guildford Flames full in the face.
That leaves little margin for error, and with an away game against the Manchester Storm tonight (7pm) followed by a trip to the Coventry Blaze tomorrow (5.30pm), they could do with a pre-Christmas boost of a four-point weekend just to change the mood in the changing room.
And Keefe believes the solution is as simple as giving more effort across all 200ft of the ice, arguing that he hasn’t seen it enough from his side over the last run of fixtures.
“I liked our game in the first period but we were too perimeter, we had no net-front presence and that allowed (Panthers netminder Alex) Dubeau to settle in and I thought he was great after that,” said Keefe, reflecting on Thursday’s loess.
“We’ve had that problem all season where we’ve allowed goalies to see the puck off clean shots and it feels like we’re playing against Marty Brodeur every night. That’s a problem.
“Scoring’s a problem for us right now. That said, I liked a good portion of our game (on Thursday) but we obviously didn’t do enough.
“That’s the reason why Nottingham won.
“We’re going to have to be better at home and we’re going to have to do a lot more in general.
“We’re not giving enough to get results. I thought the same in Cardiff last Saturday — we did okay but we didn’t do enough to get the win. It was the same again.”
The Giants are likely to be without Sean Norris for the Storm and Blaze clashes, the British forward having played at the Motorpoint Arena on Thursday but should return to parent club Milton Keynes Lightning for their games this weekend instead.