The Excel Hull Stingrays tonight made difficult work of an under par Newcastle Vipers outfit at the Hull Arena, eventually prevailing over the Tyneside based club by five goals to three to continue their mid-season transformation, in doing so, Sylvain Cloutier's side made it four wins from six Elite League outings.
The Stingrays started in unusually spirited form, controlling much of the play and easily entering the Vipers zone time after time. Despite their dominance with the puck, the Stingrays failed to pepper shots on stand in keeper Kevin Reiter but they did eventually open the scoring through player/assistant coach Curtis Huppe, who fired home after some close passing with Jeff Glowa and Matty Davies fortuitously worked to breach the Vipers defence.
However, fewer than 60 seconds after the opening goal, Stingrays netminder Tommy Sandahl failed to glove a routine wrist shot, dropping the puck at his feet allowing Matus Petriko to poke home and level the scores.
The Vipers, having been largely controlled from opening face-off, now smelt blood and headed straight for Sandahl's goal from the restart with Jason Tejchma unlucky to hit the bar and not send the Vipers into the lead.
Five minutes later the Stingrays were deservedly back in the lead under somewhat lucky circumstances. As the Rays dumped the puck in keeper Reiter went behind the net to collect the puck only to be met by his own defenceman, lots of confusion later and the puck found its way into the net with Lee Esders, happy to add another notch on his seasons goalscoring tally.
The Vipers would respond again though, this time Tejchma was not so unlucky, netting a rasping wrist shot in off the post on the penalty kill, to hit the third shorthanded goal against the Rays in two games, but, more importantly, to send the teams level heading into the second.
The first half of the second was largely quiet, with the Vipers improving enough to muster some sort of a challenge.
Indeed, they took a 3-2 lead on 29 minutes as defenceman Mark Gouett netted a rebound with Tommy Sandahl still searching for the puck and five minutes later they would the bar again, this time from the stick of Ryan Mahrle.
The Stingrays then finally took control of the game on the scoreboard thanks to the clinical finishing of Konstantin Kalmikov, who, despite not looking 100%, again came good at the right time.
First, the Ukrainian expertly diverted a powerful Jason Silverthorn pass from the corner to bullet in short one timer, before a Vipers give away with less than 60 seconds left on the clock gave the Rays a 2-on-1, with Kalmikov preferring to shoot past Kevin Reiter than pass to Lee Esders at the back stick.
With the Stingrays finally deservedly in the lead, the third period was all about maintaining that lead and securing the two points, although a disallowed Mike Berry goal, which was ruled to have hit the bar, and an injury to Jeff Glowa's left leg made that task a little harder than it should have been.
Lee Mitchell then added an empty net goal after beating the Vipers D to the puck to seal a 5-3 win.
Next weekend, the Stingray face a re-match with Newcastle in Whitley Bay on Saturday night before returning home to play the Nottingham Panthers for the third time in four weeks, as the Rays hope to continue their good run of form post-Christmas.
Match Highlights
Stingrays Stats
Goalscorers: Kalmikov x 2, L.Mitchell, Huppe, Esders
Sandahl: 41 shots, 3 goals against
SOG: 41-30
PIM: 10-8
Good
Another two points on the road to turning the season around. A far from ideal performance still producing a win. Goalscorers scoring goals.
Bad
Making very difficult work of a pretty poor Newcastle side. A couple of the team failing to put in 60 minutes. The Vipers first goal, a bit of a clanger from Sandahl.
F Block Blog MOM
Stingrays: Konstantin Kalmikov (2+0) The Ukrainian looked lethargic and frustrated early in the game, perhaps showing signs of an illness, however, he put in a typically determined shift, persevering to hit a crucial double to once again prove his immense worth to Sylvain Cloutier's side.
Newcastle: Jason Tejchma (1+0) Tejchma netted a shorthanded goal in off the post from just inside the face off circle that no one expected to hit the twine and to unexpectedly put the Vipers level again. He and Mike Berry spearheaded the Vipers attack, however for much of the game that offensive threat was weakened.
Stingrays Verdict: 6/10
The Stingrays did enough...just. First impressions in the first period were that this appeared to be one of the weakest Viper sides to have visited the Hull Arena in the Elite League, despite their distinct lack of Andre Payette, Rob Wilson and goons, which should have technically improved their abilities.
The Stingrays still managed to go behind to the Vipers thanks to a Tommy Sandahl mistake and yet another shorthanded goal against.
However, once again, the goalscorers hit the twine as they are paid to do, with Kalmikov netting a double and Huppe scoring another, while George Halkidis logged up mammoth amounts of ice time in defence and Stephen Burns scored his second man-of-the-match award in two days.
As Sylvain Cloutier admitted post-game, the Stingrays have played a lot better in the last week and lost in two games against Nottingham and Coventry, so to gain the two points will be a huge relief for the side, especially since it gives him four wins in six games.
Cloutier's Comments
"I'm pleased we won last night, but disappointed with some of the goals we gave up. But we found a way to win and battled back to get the points. We probably played better against Nottingham and Coventry than we did against Newcastle and had nothing to show for it, but that's the way games go sometimes. I am not happy we lost on Saturday, but I thought we played a really good game and the score does not show that. We created a lot of chances but ran into a hot goalie."
