Q Radio Sport
A 5-1 win over Estonia last night helped Great Britain to their second win from as many games in the IIHF World Championships Division 1B.
Player of the Match at Belfast's SSE Arena went to Belfast Giants goalkeeper Stephen Murphy, but it wasn't until the third period that Pete Russell's men took control of the game.
It was another Giant who gave GB the lead, defenceman Mark Garside making a push into the five hole and diverting the puck past Villem-Henrik Koitmaa in the Estonian goal at 04:38.
Despite a lot of close misses they did make it two just before the first intermission at 19:18, David Phillips firing the puck through traffic, which blocked Koitmaa enough to ensure he wasn't able to make the save.
Tuesday is an off day but we'll be back on Wednesday!
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) April 24, 2017
Wednesday's schedule:
🇯🇵 v 🇪🇪 (12:30pm)
🇳🇱 v ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· (4pm)
🇬🇧 v 🇱🇹 (7:30pm)#IIHFWorlds
But, like against Croatia in their opening game, GB were off the pace in the second period and Estonia came roaring back, deservedly getting a goal back through Roman Andrejev, who picked the perfect line at 29:20 to knock the puck past an unfortunate Murphy.
If it wasn't for the Scottish netminder it could have been a lot worse, however Murphy maintained GB's one goal advantage, allowing them to wrap up victory with a three goal salvo quickly after the restart.
Liam Stewart got the third, his first international goal, when he hammered home a rebound at 41:16, before David Clarke notched his second of the tournament at 44:02 with a fine solo effort from in front of the net.
So after day two the table looks like this:
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) April 24, 2017
1 🇱🇹 Lithuania 6
2 🇯🇵 Japan 6
3 🇬🇧 GB 6
4 ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· Croatia 0
5 🇪🇪 Estonia 0
6 🇳🇱 Holland 0#IIHFWorlds
The final goal came 26 seconds later as Matthew Myers powered up the left before sliding the puck across goal to the waiting Evan Mosey, who prodded it underneath Koitmaa for GB's fifth.
Estonia did threaten towards the end, but Murphy stood tall to ensure he would only be beaten once, taking GB up to six points, level at the top with Japan and Lithuania.
In the earlier games Japan saw off Croatia 4-2, while Lithuania had a very easy day of it, putting eight past Holland in an 8-0 shutout victory.