Ciaran Long scored the game-winning goal and Tyler Beskorowany made 26 saves as the Belfast Giants engineered a 3-2 comeback win against Dynamo Pardubice to end their 2023/24 Champions Hockey League season with three consecutive victories.

Some slick passing got the visitors on the board first when Martin Kaut potted his first of the campaign to put Pardubice up by one at 8:26. Dominik Pavlata chased down the puck which he then fed to Jan Košťálek who slid it to Kaut who rocketed it past Beskorowany to break Belfast's shutout streak on home ice.

Kaut secured his second point, assisting on Jan Kolář's tally five minutes later to extend Pardubice's lead to 2-0. The defenceman wired a shot from the point through traffic that found its way past the Canadian backtop to give his team some security.

But Belfast would answer with their first of the game 33 seconds later. Long received a pass from Matt McLeod, skated into the far faceoff dot and wristed it past Milan Klouček's to halve the deficit with a little under six and half to play in the period.

Following the first 20, it was Belfast narrowly outshooting Pardubice 10-9 with the Czechs maintaining a one-goal advantage.

The hosts continued to apply pressure as golden opportunities materialised for both sides during the middle frame, but neither club could capitalise and with the score unchanged after 40 minutes, Belfast entered the locker room still trailing by one while Pardubice were one period away from earning their fourth win of the Regular Season.

Final period of play saw Belfast go on the man-advantage twice in the opening ten minutes and while they failed to muster much on their third try, their fourth powerplay produced the equaliser and the go-ahead goal.

First, Ara Nazarian found Greg Printz for the one-timer to level things at 2-2 and then seconds later, Long made it 3-2 when he put the puck past Klouček to give his team their first lead of the night with Ben Lake notching his second assist of the campaign.

Coming up on seven minutes to play, Pardubice were awarded a powerplay of their own but Belfast's PK was on point, helping to maintain the hosts' lead. The visitors continued to battle back, but momentum had already shifted to the home side and after leading for 50 minutes, Pardubice ended the Regular Season with their third loss.

Fortunately, the Czechs have already qualified for their place in the Round of 16 and will continue their season in November while Belfast will exit the pan-European competition short of a Playoff bid for the second straight year.