Elite League: Belfast Giants lose 4-2 at home to Nottingham Panthers

The Belfast Giants went down 4-2 at home to the Nottingham Panthers as the Elite League title race took another unexpected twist.

The home side rushed into an early 2-0 lead, both goals from Scott Conway.

The Panthers turned the game around through goals from Robert Baillargeon, Edwin Hedberg, Christophe Boivin and an empty-netter from Matthew Myers.

The Giants stay top of the table, four points clear of Sheffield Steelers, who now have two games in hand.

The Panthers await Belfast again on Saturday night for the second game in the double-header, while the Steelers are away to third-placed Cardiff Devils.

Lightning start to the match

The Giants were two goals up inside the first three minutes in a lightning start to the match.

Jordan Boucher fed Conway who ripped a shot high past netminder Kevin Carr and into the Nottingham net with less than two minutes on the clock.

It was two-nil just under a minute later as Conway took advantage of a Panthers turnover to grab his 28th goal in the Elite League this season.

The Giants allowed their visitors a route back into the game three minutes before the end of the period with an unfortunate giveaway of their own, Baillargeon gleefully accepting the chance to pull a goal back.

The Panthers then started hot in the second period, Swedish forward Hedberg finishing a fine passing move just over a minute after the restart to level things up at 2-2.

Boivin exploited another Giants turnover with a score on the breakaway with 14 minutes to go in the contest and Nottingham had completed a fine turnaround in the contest.

With Giants netminder Tyler Beskorowany pulled, Myers killed off any Giants comeback with his empty-netter - or so it seemed.

The Giants appeared to have pulled it back to 4-3 almost immediately, Tyler Soy tipping the puck into the net past Carr but the 'goal' was waved off by the officials for a high stick.