Colin Shields suffered a game penalty in the first period in Hull

Belfast Giants' run of five straight wins came to a surprising end when they suffered a 3-2 shoot-out defeat by basement club Hull on Sunday night.

The Giants earned one Elite League point as the match finished 2-2 at the end of normal time.

Brandon Benedict scored both Belfast goals which cancelled out strikes by Konstantin Kalmikov and Jeff Glowa.

Coventry defeated Newcastle 6-3 on Sunday night to move a point ahead of the Giants at the top of the table.

The league leaders also have two games in hand on the Giants.

Nottingham are a point behind the Giants in third place after edging out Cardiff 2-1 on Sunday night - although Belfast have two games in hand on the Panthers.

The defeats drop Newcastle and Cardiff six points behind Coventry.

The Giants' prospects on Sunday weren't helped by having Sean McMorrow and in-form Colin Shields both ejected from the ice in the first period.

McMorrow suffered his game penalty in the fifth minute after being in the wars on a number of occasions in the opening minutes.

Shields, the Giants top goal-scorer this season, had his night ended for high sticking in the 15th minute.

The win represented revenge for the Stingrays after their 5-2 defeat at the Odyssey Arena on Saturday night.

Shields put the Giants ahead in the first period and while Kalmikov levelled, the Giants went on to hit four goals without reply.

Tim Cook (two), Evan Cheverie and Jeff Szwez were on target for the Giants while Lee Mitchell replied for Hull.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version