Hat-tricks from an out-of-form Konstantin Kalmikov and in-form Jereme Tendler helped the Excel Hull Stingrays follow up their 6-3 win over a depleted Edinburgh Capitals in Scotland last night with a convincing 9-2 success at the Hull Arena tonight.
As heavy favourites to complete a four point weekend, the sooner the Stingrays got on the board the better, and after dominating the majority of the opening stages Jozef Sladok fed newest signing Andy Hirst for the young Brit to redirect home high over Caps keeper Jens Van Poulke for a 1-0 lead and his first Elite League goal in a very impressive showing.
Tendler then net his first of three after 13 minutes, forcing home after good work from Matti Uusivirta and Andrew Coburn, and Ben Lowe - who put in his most confident performance as a Stingray yet - hit the post before Jeff Hutchins surprisingly got the Caps on the board from an acute angle on one of just four Edinburgh shots in the first.
19 seconds before the end of the first Tendler doubled up, out-muscling the Caps last defenceman to incredibly record his ninth shorthanded goal of the year and his 36th overall, giving the Rays a 3-1 lead heading into the second.
In front of new Belgian netminder Van Poulke, who made all the difference in the first two periods, the Caps played their tightest hockey in the second stanza, holding the Rays to just one goal while bagging a goal of their own.
The Stingrays again came out strongly in the period, looking to kill the game off early, however, it was thanks only to a mix up behind the net between keeper Van Poulke and defenceman that they even scored in the second, as former Capital Jason Silverthorn slotted into an unguarded net 23 seconds in with Van Poulke sprawling to make an unlikely save.
While the home teams powerplay struggled all game, failing to convert on four chances and the Caps wasn't much better, the Scottish side did manage to find the twine with the man advantage, Martin Cingel impressively bulleting home a one timer from a Jeff Hutchins feed after an awful line change from the Rays defensive corps.
With home fans perhaps beginning to worry that the Stingrays would be the first side to fall to the five import Caps in nearly two months, Sylvain Cloutier's side finally found their feet offensively in the final stanza.
Andrew Coburn - who ended up with two goals and seven assists in the two games against Edinburgh this weekend - set the Stingrays on their way 37 seconds in, bursting through the middle of the Scots to fire home five hole and give the home team a 5-2 lead.
Tendler's hat-trick goal quickly followed two minutes later after awesome set up play from man of the moment Coburn. However, the talking moment of the game was yet to follow as experienced Edinburgh forward Jeff Hutchins dangerously lashed out with his stick at Stingrays captain Kurtis Dulle following a fair and legal check on his fellow Canadian.
Although Hutchins retaliation for the check didn't connect, or at least didn't harm Dulle, enforcer Sladok took it upon himself to step up and protect his team mate, even with the scores as they were at 6-2, heavily in favour of the Stingrays.
Naturally, Hutchins rejected the immediate invitation to drop the gloves although after the Slovakians ten minute unsportsmanlike penalty expired the pair did eventually fight, shadow boxing for what must have been nearly 30 seconds before Sladok took the decision in a disappointing five second, one punch bout.
The fight seemed to only encourage the Stingrays to stick the fork in the already well done bottom side as Kalmikov, decimated by a lack of confidence so far this season, picked up the baton and ran with it, netting a natural hat-trick in eight minutes and 42 seconds to round the score off at 9-2.
The Stingrays have historically struggled to put the puck away in any game they have been obvious favourites in, so a four point weekend, given their record and previous five game losing streak, is a very welcome outcome for Cloutier.
Edinburgh are a much improved, albeit still depleted outfit and the addition of netminder Van Poulke has made a big difference, even if they did still lose out and even if the difference on the scoreboard since their last visit is just one goal.
Cloutier's side face the Sheffield Steelers for the third time in two weeks and final time this season on Wednesday at Hull Arena, with the South Yorkshire side comfortably five-one up in the series, before taking on Dundee next Saturday and Coventry in the East Midlands on Sunday.
Rays Rating
7
FBB Three Stars
1- Andy Hirst (1+0)
2- Jereme Tendler (3+2)
3- Konstantin Kalmikov (3+0)
