Excel Hull Stingrays 4-3 Basingstoke Bison
The Excel Hull Stingrays snatched their first two plus point weekend of the season with a last gasp Konstantin Kalmikov goal sealing victory over the Basingstoke Bison.
Without Paul Moran, as well as fellow defencemen Troy Neumeier and Stuart Kerr, the Stingrays faced a Basingstoke side minus number one netminder Kevin Reiter, who was replaced by Peterborough Phantoms netminder Ewan King.
The optimism that may have first swept over Rays fans, after an encouraging overtime loss against Sheffield, was quickly dispatched by a Bison powerplay goal after just two minutes, this despite early pressure from the Stingrays.
From there on in it was not easy viewing for home fans as the Bison executed a near perfect road trip, holding a 1-0 lead into the second before extending that lead near the end of the second through Trevor Read. Separating two woeful periods from the Stingrays came a Jason Kostadine and Mike Olynyk fight, with the latter ending up on the wrong side of a beating. The fight being one of very sparse bright points from the Stingrays in the opening two periods.
The third period began with more of the same, the Stingrays continued to look for that first goal past debutant King whilst the Bison held steady with good team defence. The 41st minute saw the Stingrays finally fire past the Bison netminder as Slava Koulikov slotted home his first goal since return from injury.
The Bison quickly responded to the set back with a goal from Greg Chambers restoring their two goal lead just two minutes later, once again this season the Stingrays failed to use the momentum of a comeback goal.
Another two minutes later and another twist, or two, as the Bison found themselves in penalty trouble with a five on three. The Stingrays used the momentum this time with Jeff Glowa slotting into an unguarded back post before Matt Reynolds leveled the scores at three with an opportune short side goal again on the powerplay, one netminder King would want back. Reynolds goal sealed the second time in two games that the Stingrays had capitalised on a five on three with two goals in less than a minute after a similar turn of events in Sheffield on Saturday night began the Stingrays comeback.
The Stingrays began to swarm forward but after a number of opportunities to take the lead it was the Bison who were handed a golden opportunity to take two points as Greg Chambers skated through to a breakaway.
Less than thirty seconds, and a Cruickshank save on Chambers, later the Stingrays scored through a one time Konstantin Kalmikov shot. With less than 11 ticks remaining on the clock it was a harsh end to a good road performance for the Bison who fell two points behind the Stingrays in the loss and a somewhat lucky win for the Stingrays who only really turned up for the third, and final, period.
Best Moment- Konstantin Kalmikov's late late late one timer to seal a fortutus victory. Jason Kostadine easily fending off Mike Olynyk in their fight. Curtis Cruickshank denying Greg Chambers on a breakaway with less than 60 seconds left.
Worst Moment- Every single second of the first two periods (other than maybe Kostadine's fight).
F Block MOM
Stingrays- Curtis Cruickshank (25 shots/3 goals) -if only for denying Chambers 1-on-1 with less than 60 seconds remaining.
Bison- Ewan King (51 shots/4 goals)- Had a very solid game, would want maybe one or two of the goals back but faced 50+ shots and gave the Bison every chance for the two points.
Stingrays Verdict- (3/10)- A horrible first two periods for the Stingrays gave the Bison, who played a Strachan esque road game, a huge chance to take the two points and lead over the Stingrays in ninth place, fortunately Konstantin Kalmikov, who played yet another solid game, popped up to save the Rays. Other than fire shots literally at Bison netminder King at any available chance, the Stingrays did very little in the first or second to stimulate fans, in fact when they went 2-0 down at the end of the second most thought that was the end of the game, even the season.
Thankfully they just about reappeared for the third period and somehow took the points. Once again Kalmikov, Reynolds and Slonina were at the heart of the turnaround in the third. Curtis Cruickshank's breakaway save on Greg Chambers with less than a minute to go was game breaking as was, fairly obviously, Kalmikov's one timer with 11 seconds left. Not a great performance by the Rays, in fact they were mostly awful until two goals in 50 seconds on the powerplay turned the game on its head. Credit must go to the three defencemen, Slonina, Wilson and Gomenyuk, who rotated between themselves on defence in what must have been an exhausting night.
A worrying performance but a pleasing result, isn't that what great teams do? Maybe so, and of course the Rays aren't a great team, but they will need more of these poor performances leading to good results if they are to make the playoffs.
Strachan's Verdict- "It was a huge weekend for us. We have been playing decent hockey and not getting the results. But we battled hard in both games and when that goal went in, you could see the confidence of the guys in their faces. I have never seen them that happy. "
SOG: 51-25
PIM: 7-45
