Elite League: Belfast Giants hammer Nottingham 5-0 as coach Keefe misses the game

Summer signing JJ Piccinich celebrated scoring two more goals for the Giants

The Belfast Giants produced their most impressive performance of the early season with a 5-0 win away to Nottingham Panthers.

JJ Piccinich netted twice with Scott Conway, Slater Doggett and Mark Cooper also on target for the Giants.

Giants' head coach Adam Keefe didn't make the trip to Nottingham with the team confirming he is following Covid-19 self-isolation guidance.

Assistant coaches Jeff Mason and Rob Stewart took to the bench for the game.

The Giants had a dream start at the Motorpoint Arena as Piccinich was given a simple tap-in 30 seconds into the contest, after Nottingham failed to deal with a rebound from behind the goal.

The Giants' forward then rattled the crossbar with a fierce shot after six minutes and Scott Conway was the quickest to react, shoving the puck home through a crowd of Panthers defenders to double the visitors' lead.

Belfast dominated the opening period with Kevin Carr in the Panthers' goal doing well to keep the scoreline down to 2-0 heading into the first interval.

The second period mirrored the first with an early goal for the Giants as Doggett slid the puck past Carr less than two minutes after the restart.

Three minutes later, Tyler Soy played an astute reverse pass from behind the goal, setting up Cooper to make it 4-0.

Piccinich topped a fine individual performance with a lovely solo effort for 5-0 with six minutes remaining as he weaved between three Panthers before finishing past Carr.