Coventry Blaze 1-4 Excel Hull Stingrays
The Excel Hull Stingrays produced a brilliant but utterly mystifying performance against the Coventry Blaze at the Coventry Skydome, pulling out a 4-1 victory. This after a 6-1 loss at home to the Manchester Phoenix the previous night, a result that left the Stingrays on the brink of losing touch with the Edinburgh Capitals in eighth spot.
The surprise victory also hands the 2008/09 EIHL title to the Stingrays Yorkshire counterparts, Sheffield Steelers, who, after their 4-1 win in Newcastle, have an unassailable lead at the top of the Elite League.
The Stingrays had yet to get a point from the Blaze this season and the first period reflected that with the Blaze dominating much of the play whilst firing 22 shots on Rays netminder Curtis Cruickshank with just one Sylvain Deschatelets shot sneaking past the big Canadian.
A lone Jeff Glowa powerplay goal, his 29th of the season, saw the Stingrays take an unexpected lead just a 86 seconds into the second period, however it was clear that the Stingrays were on the rise.
Further Stingrays goals followed in the third period as Pavel Gomenyuk, who ended up with 1+2 on the night, netted on a five-on-three powerplay before Jason Kostadine scored his 12th of the season into an empty net in the dieing moments to seal a much needed 4-1 victory.
With the victory, the battle for that final playoff spot, and a quarter final match up against the Sheffield Steelers, continues to intensify, with the Edinburgh Capitals matching the Stingrays win tonight. The Capitals maintained a good run of form that has seen them claim six points in four games, with a 4-3 win in Cardiff, solidifying their three point advantage over the Rays as time threatens to run out with just five games remaining.
Strachan said: "We battled hard and [netminder] Curtis [Cruickshank] stood on his head in the first period and we gained momentum from that. With Edinburgh winning we knew we had to win. Edinburgh and ourselves have been playing play-off hockey for a few weeks now and every game is do or die. We will regroup this week and get ready for next weekend when we need all four points."
SOG: 34-47
PIM: 20-14
PLAYOFF RACE 09:
8th- Edinburgh GP49, W 15, OTL6, L28, GF159, GA224, GDIFF -65, PTS 35
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9th- Stingrays GP49, W 14, OTL5, L30, GF132, GA217, GDIFF -85, PTS 32
Highlights to follow....
