The Excel Hull Stingrays were tonight shut out by the Nottingham Panthers as three special teams goals, two on the powerplay and one four-on-four, helped Corey Neilson's side to their first win of the weekend at the third attempt on Rick Strachan's return to Hull.
In front of a bumper crowd at the Hull Arena, the Stingrays came out with real purpose and determination in a frantic opening five minutes. It took the Rays just seconds to craft their first chance, a two-on-one which Nottingham netminder Craig Kowalski foiled, before a mix up between the Panthers keeper and one of his defencemen created another chance the home side would fail to take early on.
Neilson's men were really struggling to match the intensity of the Stingrays with this their third game in three days, but the longer the home side took to net their opening goal the harder their task would become.
That proved to be exactly the case as a wonderful spin move from forward Billy Ryan spawned the games opening goal against the run of play four-on-four, five minutes in. Having eased into the game thanks to two powerplay opportunities given to them by the Stingrays indiscipline, the Panthers were up and running and beginning to show what they were capable of.
Away from the opener, the games first real talking point came nearly ten minutes into the game as Matti Uusivirta upended Jade Galbraith on the blueline away from the puck. With the skilled forward down on the ice, Guillaume Lepine stepped in to protect his team mate, only for Jozef Sladok to quickly step up to the plate in place of Uusivirta for the Stingrays.
The pair traded punches in another lengthy bout for the Stingrays Slovakian before nearly two minutes later Corey Neilson opened his sides lead up to two goals on a five-on-three which he rifled home with the aid of a wicked deflection.
Much like the first period, the visitors absorbed more Stingrays pressure at the beginning of the second, although they appeared happy to do so as the Rays struggled offensively with a Jade Galbraith breakaway and Drew Bannister clearance off the line the closest they came to netting a crucial third.
Their third goal would come though, albeit in the third period, as former NHLer Jeff Hereema picked up a loose puck on the powerplay to fire home past Boucher through a crowded crease and settle the score at 3-0 in the Panthers favour.
While the Stingrays tried hard to muster some offence, they failed to capitalise on six powerplay opportunities as well as a number of chances created thanks to their quick start. Meanwhile, the Panthers play on the man advantage proved to be the difference as they converted two of eight attempts before they simply shut the door on the Stingrays in hope of claiming three points from a three game weekend, with Kowalski in good form stopping 33 shots.
Having beaten Braehead last night and put in a good 60 minutes work against Nottingham tonight, the Stingrays can move on to Wednesday's fixture against Dundee safe in the knowledge that their push for sixth spot is still on with just six points separating them from the Clan, cruicially with five games in hand.
FBB Rating
6
FBB Three Stars
1- Andrew Coburn (0+0)
2- Kurtis Dulle (0+0)
