Glowa's strike was not enough for the Stingrays

Hull Stingrays slumped to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Belfast Giants in their first Elite League game of the season.

Pierre-Luc Faubert and Brandon Benedict put the Giants 2-0 up before skipper Jeff Glowa pulled one back for Hull.

Evan Cheverie restored Belfast's two-goal lead, meaning Matt Reynolds' strike was meerly consolation.

"Losing is not going to be acceptable. You can't take 10 minutes off because that was the game right there," said Rays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier.

The Stingrays were two down within the first 11 minutes, with Glowa halving their deficit on the first interval buzzer.

But a mistake from Tommy Sandahl, in the Hull goal, gifted Cheverie Belfast's third in the 49th minute.

Reynolds' power-play goal at the back post a minute later set up a grandstand finish but the home side could not force the game into overtime despite laying siege to the Giants' net.

Cloutier was critical of his team's performance and told BBC Radio Humbersie: "We've got to work harder and smarter out there. I guess we have to take some positives out of the game but those two mistakes cost us."

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