Belfast Giants captain Paul Kruse believes their attempt to retain the Superleague title will have been boosted by last weekend's fine Continental Cup displays.

The Giants went into their mini-break from the league on the back of just three wins in 12 games and seven points behind leaders Sheffield Steelers.

After the Steelers lost twice to London Knights over the weekend, Belfast remain seven points behind but now have three games in hand.

Dave Whistle's side return to action on Friday when in-form London visit the Odyssey Arena.

London's preparations were rocked by the news coach Bob Leslie is leaving for Austria for personal reasons.

'High expectations'

Kruse feels the experience of playing some high-calibre teams in the Continental Cup 'Super Finals' will help them get their league campaign on track.

"With Sheffield losing the league is very tight," said Kruse.

"We have got high expectations going back and want to win the league and carry that on into the play-offs.

"The guys are really gelling together and they got a lot of confidence from this tournament. We will be a better team for it."

The Giants lost to Lugano in the quarter-final, bounced back to defeat Swiss champions Davos before being beaten 4-3 by Slovan Bratislava in a fifth/sixth-placed encounter.