Elite League: Belfast Giants 0-3 Cardiff Devils

Belfast Giants were previously unbeaten at home this season before Saturday's home slump against Cardiff

A six-game winning streak by the Belfast Giants was halted at home by Cardiff Devils on Saturday night.

Justin Faryna got the visitors off to a strong start with a goal in the opening period and despite peppering the Giants goal, they failed to add a second.

Cardiff silenced the home crowd five minutes into the final period with Gleason Fournier's shorthanded goal before Joey Martin added a late third.

The result inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Giants.

The visitors peppered Belfast netminder Jackson Whistle with shots, 17 compared to 7 for the Giants, who got off to a slow start.

A defence-splitting pass by Tyson Strachan played in Justin Faryna one-on-one with Whistle and he duly despatched the chance to score the only goal of the opening period after eight minutes of the contest.

Cardiff ended Belfast Giants' hopes of going top of the Elite League

That got a response from the Giants but efforts from Sebastien Sylvestre and John Kurtz were both saved by Ben Bowns in the Cardiff goal.

The Devils ended the period the stronger and the reigning champions were good value for their one-goal advantage after the first twenty minutes of play.

The Giants had a stronger second period as they upped their intensity but Bowns repelled all that was fired his way - while Whistle was, equally, outstanding between the pipes for the Giants.

The scoreline was still 0-1 to the Devils entering the final period.

Cardiff stunned the sizeable home crowd when Gleason Fournier scored a shorthanded goal for the Devils, ending a fine breakaway move up the ice.

With Jackson Whistle pulled with just over two minutes to go, the Devils extended their lead with Joey Martin scoring an empty-netter to end the contest.