Giants get revenge over Devils in nine-goal thriller

Belfast Giants bounced back from Saturday's defeat to the Cardiff Devils with a thriller 5-4 win over the same opponents on Sunday.

Belfast's lead at the top of the Elite League standings had been cut to six points as the Devils won 5-2 at the SSE Arena on Saturday.

And the Devils started Sunday's contest on top, taking an early lead in the first period through Riley Brandt.

The lead lasted just 90 seconds, though, as Jake Gaudet levelled the game before a power-play goal from Scott Conway gave the hosts a first lead of the night.

Bo Hanson and Ryan Smith were both on target for the Giants in the middle period, but Brandt's second and third goals of the game kept Cardiff in striking distance.

Trailing 4-3, the Devils pulled keeper Ben Bowns, and with 24 seconds remaining Conway's second goal of the game into an empty net appeared to end the scoring.

The Devils needed just 12 seconds to reduce the deficit to one goal once more, as Josh Macdonald made it 5-4 with 12 more seconds left to play.

But Cardiff could not find another in the remaining seconds, as the Giants held on to win to move eight points clear of the Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers.

The Panthers and Steelers play later on Sunday, and could reduce the deficit back to six points with wins over Coventry Blaze and Fife Flyers respectively.

Defeat leaves the Devils nine points adrift of Belfast in fourth.