The Excel Hull Stingrays fought back from two goals down to defeat playoff rivals the Newcastle Vipers in the tough surroundings of Whitley Bay Ice Rink tonight.
Buoyed by the return of forward Jason Silverthorn from concussion, the Stingrays yet again fell behind early thanks to a strike from Dale Mahovsky after just 81 seconds but came back strongly to outplay the home side in the first period.
The Vipers, in one of their 'Drive for Five' promotions in which they hope to bring 5,000 fans through Whitley Bay's old doors, came back into the game in the second, doubling their lead on 30 minutes through Toms Hartmanis after the Rays defence allowed the Latvian far too much time and space.
Crucially however, Jereme Tendler netted his 15th of the year and first of the game less two minutes before the of the second to halt the little momentum the Vipers had picked up in the middle stanza.
Ryan Lake then continued a fine run of form in his return to the sport scrambling home the equaliser from close in after Matti Uusivirta had rung the crossbar.
With less than five minutes remaining the Stingrays finally and deservedly took the lead through Andrew Coburn, who wristed a shot past netminder Charlie Effinger to all but seal the teams second win over the Vipers of the year.
Penalty killing specialist Tendler then netted again on the PK with just over two minutes to go to tally his seventh in six games and Lee Mitchell missed an empty net chance from close in before the Rays went home happy.
The victory sends Sylvain Cloutier's side into seventh place, two points ahead of the chasing pack of Newcastle, Dundee and Edinburgh, and six behind sixth placed side Braehead.
Rays Rating
7.5
FBB Three Stars
1- Andrew Coburn (1+0)
2- Jereme Tendler (2+1)
3- Christian Boucher (24 saves, 26 shots)
