Steve Thornton hailed his Belfast Giants penalty-killing unit as they tamed the Nottingham Panthers twice within the space of 24 hours.

And that's hardly surprising as not only did they stop the Panthers powerplay, the Giants netted twice while short-handed in Saturday's 4-0 win at the National Ice Centre to make it a perfect weekend by taking four points off the previous league leaders — which means the teams are now level on points.

Thornton's game plan had been to go 5-on-5 with the Panthers. Nottingham's powerplay is regarded as one of the strongest in the league, while the Giants' hasn't clicked regularly enough this season.

As it turned out, it didn't matter whether the Giants had one more man on the ice or one less, they were still able to score goals.

“We got exactly what we wanted out of the weekend,” said Thornton.

“Over six periods we beat Nottingham 10-3 and we've won in their rink, which is great because there are potentially other big games in that building later on in the season. Our penalty kill has been one of the best parts of our team over the last 12 or 13 games.

“Guys are getting into the shooting lanes, blocking shots and when one or two are blocked it's contagious — everyone gets into it. If any shots do get through then Stephen Murphy has been there to bail us out.”

Boosted by two goals in the first five minutes, the Giants' stranglehold on the game was never loosened. It may have taken until the final period before the third and fourth goals arrived, but really the outcome was never in doubt after that quick fire double.

The first Giants powerplay arrived less than a minute into the game and seven seconds before it was due to expire Jeff Szwez netted unassisted.

And he didn't need any help when doubling the lead just over two minutes later — after the Giants had killed a full minute of a 5-on-3 Nottingham powerplay.

Szwez had been sent to the penalty box after scoring the opening goal and exactly a minute later he was joined by Colin Shields. Szwez then stepped back onto the ice and collected the puck to fire past Kevin St Pierre.

Giants tough-guy Sean McMorrow had challenge Nottingham new-boy Mario Larocque to take him on prior to the home and away double-header and he got his wish five minutes before the end of the second period — although it was his last action of the night as both he and Larocque were ejected from the game immediately after — the Belfast man deemed guilty of cross-checking and his adversary for fighting.

Brandon Benedict amazingly netted a second short-handed goal of the game to all but kill off any hopes Nottingham had of mounting a comeback before Colin Shields' goal made it a perfect weekend for the Giants.