Excel Hull Stingrays 3-2 Belfast Giants (ASO)
The Excel Hull Stingrays latest losing streak was brought to a shuddering halt at six games tonight after Sylvain Cloutier's men battled to a 3-2 shootout victory over the much fancied Belfast Giants at the Hull Arena.
The Rays quickly led after less than two minutes of play, as Konstantin Kalmikov fired home his second goal in two games, shorthanded, however, Brandon Benedict, who netted in Northern Ireland last night, scored the first of two goals on the night less than 60 seconds later to level the scores.
Sean McMorrow, the Giants entertaining enforcer, then received misconduct penalties either side of Jeff Glowa's fourth minute powerplay goal to be thrown from the game, while Colin Shields was also chucked out for a high stick on Stingrays player-coach Cloutier, to not only give the Stingrays the advantage on the scoreboard but also the numerical advantage.
Benedict's second of the night, a powerplay goal on 22.44, was the final goal of the game, as Sandahl in the Rays net and Murphy between the Giants posts stopped over 90 shots between them, with Swede Sandahl stopping an impressive 54 on his own.
The third period, overtime and regulation penalty shots wound down without either side taking the advantage on the scoreboard, before Jeff Glowa stepped up in the sudden death shootout to win the Stingrays their first game in seven attempts and just their fourth of the league campaign.
Next weekend the Stingrays face Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers, fresh from three games in Europe this weekend, before travelling to Edinburgh where they take on the Capitals.
SOG: 43-56
PIM: 10-59
