Fit-again Barriga leads Giants to big Devils win

Elijah Barriga scored twice in Belfast Giants' comeback win over Cardiff Devils on Saturday

Belfast Giants forward Elijah Barriga scored a pair of third-period goals as his side overcame a one-goal deficit against the Cardiff Devils to win 3-1 in the first clash of the season between the perennial Elite League title contenders.

Jarrod Gourley’s first-period strike for Cardiff stood up until the final 10 minutes before Barriga equalised and then gave the Giants the late lead in front of a sell-out crowd of 6327 at the SSE Arena.

Jordan Kawaguchi iced the game with an empty-net goal for the Giants.

Barriga moved to Belfast at the start of last season from the Dundee Stars but after just four appearances suffered an ACL injury that was season ending.

Surgery and a long recovery period followed.

“It was definitely a tough year last year. I would say more mentally than physically,” said the 28 year-old Californian.

“There's a lot of things that go on in your head but you have to stick with it and grind it out.”

After suffering such a serious injury, it was probably not surprising that it’s taken a few games for Barriga to find himself again on the ice, especially the physical side of the sport and taking a hit on the knee he had suffered the damaged ligaments on.

“I would say in the first few games, it's kind of just in the back of your head, right? You're kind of thinking about that and getting it out of the way and stuff like that.

“But ultimately, as you play more games, you feel more comfortable and it just comes natural. That's what it's been like the past couple of games for me, so I'm grateful for that.”

Elijah Barriga celebrates after scoring his second goal against Cardiff

Keefe sees improvement in Barriga’s game

Giants coach Adam Keefe is also seeing Barriga becoming more comfortable with each game.

“His first couple of games back, I thought he didn't have the jump, obviously, you know, it's a big surgery that he had and missed an entire season,” explained Keefe.

“But I think in particular, in the last probably two, three weeks, he's really come on strides, you know, he's battling.

“You have to compete through traffic. You got to compete for pucks and you look at his goals in this game, he's going to the dirty areas, he gets rewarded and that's exactly what we're looking for.”

Barriga scored the late equaliser against champions Sheffield last Sunday and Saturday's two huge goals further demonstrate why the Giants signed him.

Twelve months on from his injury, he is beginning to repay the club's faith.

“That was definitely a huge win. When you play these teams like Sheffield and Cardiff, you always want to play your best.

“You can’t win the league in October but ultimately when you look back at these games, you could say that you got that one extra point and that could be the difference at the end of the season.”