Champions Hockey League: Belfast Giants fall short against HC Davos in entertaining encounter

Three powerplay goals cost the Belfast Giants dearly as they suffered their second Champions Hockey League loss in two games with a 6-3 defeat by HC Davos at the SSE Arena.

Michael Fora and Magnus Nygren gave the Swiss champions an early 2-0 lead before David Gilbert pulled one back before the end of the first period.

Ben Lake equalised with the first of three goals at the start of the second period, with Matej Stransky restoring the visitors' lead on the powerplay before Scott Conway levelled again.

Stransky got his second powerplay goal of the game and Valentin Nussbaumer added their fifth before Leon Bristedt completed the scoring five minutes from the end of period three.

It made it two wins from two in the Champions Hockey League for Davos, who beat Skelleftea AIK of Sweden 3-2 in their opener on Friday.

The Giants performed well in their home arena on Sunday but are left still seeking their first point of this European campaign after they suffered a 4-0 defeat by Ocelari Trinec in the Czech Republic on Friday.

Adam Keefe's men travel to Switzerland to play Davos again in their next Champions Hockey League Group H match on Friday.

Both sides look to attack in frenetic start

Davos made it two CHL wins out of two

The match got off to a high-octane start, with both sides going on the attack and looking dangerous from the outset on matchday two of the competition.

The visitors, Switzerland's most successful side with 31 national title wins, took the lead in the seventh minute when Fora swept home a good finish after a clever pass from Enzo Corvi.

Giants netminder Peyton Jones had to make as excellent double save from Valentin Nussbaumer to ensure his side survived the temporary loss of Chad Butcher, but he could do nothing to keep out Nygren's strike on 16 minutes as the visitors doubled their lead.

However, Jones was again to the fore just seconds later as he made another fine save that set up the breakaway for the Belfast side hitting back, with Mark Cooper breaking well before delivering the perfect pass inside for Gilbert to notch his first competitive Giants goal.

Keefe's men maintained their momentum at the start of the second period and drew level as Ben Lake pounced to score from close range to the delight of the large home crowd at the SSE Arena.

That sparked a frenzied period with three goals in less than two minutes as, just a minute after being pegged back, Davos restored their lead with a powerplay goal from Stransky who blasted into the net past Jones.

Thirty seconds later and the Giants were level again at 3-3 when Darik Angeli set up the impressive Conway who cut inside from the left and showed great composure before finishing superbly with a bullet shot.

Conway twice set up Cooper for good opportunities that were well saved and home netminder Jones again kept the Swiss side out with three more stops before Davos went 4-3 up in the 33rd minute. Good build-up play down the right from Nygren and Leon Bristedt led to Stransky getting his second powerplay goal of the match as he gave Jones no chance with a stinging drive.

Having led 2-0 early on, the visitors went 5-3 up two minutes later when Nussbaumer got their fifth goal, assisted by Dominik Egli, to leave the Giants two goals down going into the final period.

The third period was a much quieter affair than the previous two, with the Giants tiring before Matěj Stránský and Claude-Curdin Paschoud set up Bristedt for the visitors' sixth goal.