The Excel Hull Stingrays were tonight handed a costly and painful defeat by the Braehead Clan in their battle to claim the Scottish sides sixth place, losing 3-2 despite firing 54 shots on Clan netminder JF Perras.
With sixth place at stake the Stingrays made their intentions know early on, dominating the Clan from the opening face-off for the whole of the first 14 minutes and the vast majority of the first twenty, peppering Perras with an astonishing 29 shots in the first period but coming away with nothing to show for their vast offensive efforts.
Typically, the Clan - who fired just ten shots on Christian Boucher at the other end - capitalised on their only chance of the period with a powerplay marker from Kyle Bruce finding its way home after a juicy rebound to give them a lead against the run of play.
Somehow, after a dominating the first period, the Stingrays trailed, however, the tables were turned early in the middle period as Lee Esders finally beat Perras nearside this time after the Clan had got off to the better start.
Despite the equaliser the Scots continued to control the middle period as the Stingrays tired following their fruitless first period efforts.
Unlike the Rays, the visitors made their control count with two goals, the first a powerplay goal from Dominic Noel - who similarly to Bruce fired home on a juicy rebound - and the second a Jordan Krestanovich marker after he beat Matti Uusivirta at the face-off circle and outmuscled the Finn to fire five hole past Boucher to give the Clan a deserved two goal, 3-1 lead going into the third.
After lacking intensity in the middle session, the Stingrays upped their game in the final period in an effort to get a vital win from the game and captain Kurtis Dulle was able to pull one back for the hosts, beating Perras with nine minutes remaining to record his sides only powerplay goal in 14 attempts this weekend.
That was as close as the Stingrays would come though, despite calling a time-out and pulling Boucher for the extra outskater, as the Clan left Hull Arena with a crucial first ever victory in East Yorkshire and second over the Stingrays in five outings this season.
The loss is a hammer blow to Sylvain Cloutier's hopes of overtaking Braehead in sixth place with Bruce Richardson's team now in fifth one point ahead of Coventry in sixth and 11 points ahead of the Rays - who have now played just two fewer games - with the two teams meeting just once more this season on March 15 in Scotland.
Next weekend the Rays face a massive task against two of the league's top three sides, travelling to league leaders Sheffield on Saturday before returning to face Belfast at the Hull Arena on Sunday, knowing they haven't beaten at top four side since the middle of December.
Rays Rating
5
FBB Three Stars
1- Kurtis Dulle (1+0)
2- Lee Esders (1+0)
3- Matti Uusivirta (0+0)
