After having their three game win streak ended by Dundee on Sunday, the Excel Hull Stingrays tonight bounced back with a 4-2 victory over the Braehead Clan that puts them just one point behind tonight's sixth placed Scottish opponents with four games in hand.
In a largely quiet opening period, the Stingrays took the lead through their first real opportunity as Andrew Coburn netted on a powerplay attempt. The rookie Canadian, who has improved no end in his first year as a pro, luckily netted having fired a low shot in off a Clan defenceman on a man advantage that the Stingrays rarely looked like scoring on.
Although the Clan barely troubled Christian Boucher in the Stingrays net during the opening stanza, former NHLer Jordan Krestanovich did think he had put the puck past Boucher 11 minutes in, having been left all alone in front of the Rays keeper, only for the referee Andy Carson to confirm the puck had not crossed the line.
The Stingrays continued to grow into the first period and ended it well on top, with Trevor Read, who probably enjoyed his best game in a Rays jersey yet, coming very close to doubling the home sides lead, pinging one off the crossbar.
The second would prove to be a mixed affair with the Rays heavily dominating the early stages before Bruce Richardson's side found some jump to dominate the game in their favour.
Two minutes and 22 seconds in Jereme Tendler netted yet another brilliant shorthanded goal. Intercepting a pass well in his own zone, the Stingrays leading scorer chipped the puck between two Clan defencemen on the blueline before expertly outwaiting JF Perras to find the twine and double the lead.
Konstantin Kalmikov followed that up quickly with a goal on his return to action, using his first class shot to beat a surprised Perras, as the it looked as though the home team side would run away with the victory.
It proved to be a little more difficult than that however, as Dominic Noel, easily the Clans standout player, fired home on a massive rebound from Boucher on 12 minutes. Just moments earlier gritty Braehead forward Kyle Bruce had agitated the Stingrays, and most notably Jozef Sladok, having gone in late on Boucher, and it could be argued that the big Slovak was pre-occupied with revenge as Noel fired home.
The goal energised Richardson and the Clan, as they turned the tables on the Stingrays by penning them in for much of the remainder of the period. Thankfully for Sylvain Cloutier, the Rays D held steady preventing any further damage to their lead, as they went in with a two goal advantage.
They did narrow that lead to one just under five and a half minutes into the final period as Ryan Campbell wickedly redirected a point shot from Jon Landry but that is as close as they would come as the Stingrays were against forced to cling on as the Clan pushed for the leveler.
With the Clan spurning a couple of chances, Jason Silverthorn roofed his shot high over the shoulder of Perras to end the game as a contest at 4-2 with minutes to play.
A meaningless final Challenge Cup fixture against Coventry follows at the Hull Arena on Saturday before the team go to Cardiff on Wednesday hoping to fare a little better than they did in the 12-0 thrashing last time they visited South Wales.
Rays Rating
7.5
FBB Three Stars
1- Trevor Read (0+0)
2- Jereme Tendler (1+0)
3- Sylvain Cloutier (0+2)
