Cardiff Devils 3-4 Hull Stingrays
Having lead 4-1, the Hull Stingrays tonight held on for a huge 4-3 win over a depleted Cardiff Devils outfit in the Challenge Cup - mathematically booking their place in the Challenge Cup Quarter Finals for the first time in their history with their first away victory of the season.
The visitors - for whom Tom Squires made his debut on a two-way deal from the Sheffield Steeldogs - took a fortuitous lead, Silverthorn opening the scoring with a speculative wrist shot from the halfway line which somehow beat Phil Osaer in the Cardiff net 6.48 in.
A quick feed on a Devils line change then allowed Matty Davies to race in, feeding a backpost pass to Jereme Tendler - who slotted home with his tenth goal of the year.
11 minutes later, Cale Tanaka robbed the puck off Cardiff defenceman Josh Batch and slotted home for his fifth of the season and a surprise 3-0 lead heading into the second period.
The Rays started the second as they had finished the third and debutant Tom Squires added a fourth four minutes in. However, the visitors made hard work of their lead and the Devils comeback was soon on, as Chris Blight kickstarted the fightback with a powerplay goal on 27.50 following a Janis Ozolins penalty.
The Devils gained further momentum with another powerplay, reducing the deficit to 4-2 through player-coach Gerad Adams as Ryan Hand sat out thanks to a roughing penalty. Stingrays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier responded by calling a time-out to halt the tide against his side and, perhaps crucially for the Stingrays hopes in both the game and competition, they withheld the Devils offence and rode out the second period two goals ahead.
The expected early third period deluge from Cardiff followed and soon paid off as Ozolins sat his second minor penalty of the evening to allow Mac Faulkner to convert a third powerplay goal of the evening for the Devils and make it a one goal game. At this stage the home side were putting the Stingrays under huge pressure.
The turning point of the comeback however, came on 52.40 as the Rays - having failed to snub out three of four penalty kills so far - killed a two minute penalty on defenceman Martin Ondrej. The huge kill, combined with a minor penalty on the Devils Kenton Smith halted the momentum and would eventually prove telling.
Cardiff again piled on the pressure in the dying moments, pulling netminder Phil Osaer but Stingrays keeper Ben Bowns once again came up big to help the Rays to their third win in four games and second in two games against the Devils this season - following their 7-5 Challenge Cup triumph earlier in the season.
The victory eliminates the Devils from the Challenge Cup and sees the Stingrays mathematically through to the Quarter Final as, with one game remaining, the Devils can't topple the Rays points total nor regulation wins total (the decider and tie-breaker respectively) in Challenge Cup Group B.
Qualifying for the next round in fourth place, the Stingrays will face the top seed of Challenge Cup Group A - which is currently wide open with Braehead leading (8GP 9PTS), Belfast second (5GP 8PTS), Dundee third (7GP 8PTS) and Fife fourth (8GP 8PTS).
Regardless of their opponents, Cloutier and the Rays will take great heart in qualifying from such a tough group. Even if they only required two wins over Cardiff and an overtime loss against Coventry, the performances, particularly early in the season, at times deserved more.
Having lead 4-1, the Hull Stingrays tonight held on for a huge 4-3 win over a depleted Cardiff Devils outfit in the Challenge Cup - mathematically booking their place in the Challenge Cup Quarter Finals for the first time in their history with their first away victory of the season.
The visitors - for whom Tom Squires made his debut on a two-way deal from the Sheffield Steeldogs - took a fortuitous lead, Silverthorn opening the scoring with a speculative wrist shot from the halfway line which somehow beat Phil Osaer in the Cardiff net 6.48 in.
A quick feed on a Devils line change then allowed Matty Davies to race in, feeding a backpost pass to Jereme Tendler - who slotted home with his tenth goal of the year.
The Rays started the second as they had finished the third and debutant Tom Squires added a fourth four minutes in. However, the visitors made hard work of their lead and the Devils comeback was soon on, as Chris Blight kickstarted the fightback with a powerplay goal on 27.50 following a Janis Ozolins penalty.
The Devils gained further momentum with another powerplay, reducing the deficit to 4-2 through player-coach Gerad Adams as Ryan Hand sat out thanks to a roughing penalty. Stingrays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier responded by calling a time-out to halt the tide against his side and, perhaps crucially for the Stingrays hopes in both the game and competition, they withheld the Devils offence and rode out the second period two goals ahead.
The expected early third period deluge from Cardiff followed and soon paid off as Ozolins sat his second minor penalty of the evening to allow Mac Faulkner to convert a third powerplay goal of the evening for the Devils and make it a one goal game. At this stage the home side were putting the Stingrays under huge pressure.
The turning point of the comeback however, came on 52.40 as the Rays - having failed to snub out three of four penalty kills so far - killed a two minute penalty on defenceman Martin Ondrej. The huge kill, combined with a minor penalty on the Devils Kenton Smith halted the momentum and would eventually prove telling.
Cardiff again piled on the pressure in the dying moments, pulling netminder Phil Osaer but Stingrays keeper Ben Bowns once again came up big to help the Rays to their third win in four games and second in two games against the Devils this season - following their 7-5 Challenge Cup triumph earlier in the season.
The victory eliminates the Devils from the Challenge Cup and sees the Stingrays mathematically through to the Quarter Final as, with one game remaining, the Devils can't topple the Rays points total nor regulation wins total (the decider and tie-breaker respectively) in Challenge Cup Group B.
Qualifying for the next round in fourth place, the Stingrays will face the top seed of Challenge Cup Group A - which is currently wide open with Braehead leading (8GP 9PTS), Belfast second (5GP 8PTS), Dundee third (7GP 8PTS) and Fife fourth (8GP 8PTS).
Regardless of their opponents, Cloutier and the Rays will take great heart in qualifying from such a tough group. Even if they only required two wins over Cardiff and an overtime loss against Coventry, the performances, particularly early in the season, at times deserved more.
