The Excel Hull Stingrays tonight failed to complete a double over Elite League bottom side the Newcastle Vipers. Claiming just a point of the two on offer thanks to an Andrew Coburn double, Sylvain Cloutier's team eventually fell to a Kyle Sibley overtime marker with less than 60 seconds to play despite controlling large portions of the game at the Hull Arena.
Without Lee Esders (concussion), Matti Uusivirta and Lee Mitchell (knee), the Rays headed into the game on the back of a emphatic 7-4 win in Newcastle the previous night and took the initiative early on as Andrew Coburn fired home his first of two on the night short side on Vipers keeper Charlie Effinger, who would eventually turn away 33 shots.
The Vipers then levelled thanks to Dale Mahovsky, who deked his way around Christian Boucher just moments after Patrick Forsbacka had tied up the ever impressive Drew Bannister way off the puck in an infringement that went unseen by referee Andy Carson.
Despite the visitors having the advantage in the first ten minutes of the second, it was the Stingrays who once again took the lead with rookie Coburn again on the board after a turnover which Konstantin Kalmikov unselfishly layed off to the Canadian to score.
However, once again the Vipers, who visibly worked tirelessly as a team all night long, levelled, capitalising on a powerplay opportunity after Jozef Sladok had taken a wholly unnecessary rough call on John Schwarz, with Finn Patrick Forsbacka scoring on the man advantage after Kurtis Dulle had come close, but not close enough, to clearing the puck around the boards.
The Stingrays came out in the third and final period and well and truly took control of the game with Newcastle tiring, but ultimately they lacked the cutting edge that had seemingly been evident the night before. Effinger had a large part to play in keeping the Rays out though, stopping 13 third period shots, most notably making a sprawling save on a two-on-one which Matty Davies couldn't quite get a good enough connection on to force home with minutes remaining.
Danny Stewart will have been delighted with the point, particularly as his side had a clear game plan to take the extra point going into overtime. With Effinger in fine form and seemingly confident of stopping everything the Rays could throw at him, the Vipers invited the home side onto them, soaking up almost four minutes of pressure before counter attacking to strike the critical blow through defenceman Kyle Sibley on their only shot of the extra period with 57 seconds to play. Importantly, the shot clinched the Vipers first win on the road in 12..
Cloutier must regroup his troops from a disappointing but acceptable overtime loss given the 7-4 victory the previous night, although a result against Dundee tomorrow night is massive given his side are just two points off sixth placed Braehead and beginning to flag somewhat.
Rays Rating
6
FBB Three Stars
1- Drew Bannister (0+0)
2- Andrew Coburn (2+0)
3- Kurtis Dulle (0+0)
