Hull Stingrays 5-3 Dundee Stars
The Hull Stingrays tonight trailed the Dundee Stars by three goals to two in the third period but produced a spirited, determined performance with 13 minutes remaining to claim their fourth consecutive win.
Buoyed by the surprise return from injury of Cale Tanaka, the Stingrays got off to the perfect start thanks to the stick of Dominic Osman. The American netted the game's opening goal after just 46 seconds thanks to a sublime between the legs pass from behind the net by player-coach Sylvain Cloutier which caught Dundee netminder Nic Riopel unaware.
In their best period of the sixty minutes, Jeff Hutchins' side came back strongly and, surprise surprise, former Stingray Janis Ozolins - who was released by the Rays for failure to hit the twine - was the man to level for the Scottish side, picking his spot past friend and former teammate Ben Bowns on a swift counter-attack after six minutes.
The Stingrays - who were obviously acutely aware of the Ozolins' abilities on the puck- were having a tough time controlling their former forward early on - though they later combated his skill with the physical, niggly tactic that appeared to be his flaw when in Hull.
Nevertheless, shortly after opening the scoring for Dundee, the Latvian was again troubling the Rays defence forcing defenceman Jeff Smith to bring him down with a hook before a further roughing minor gave the Stars a four minute powerplay.
Though the visitors kept the puck in the offensive zone for the majority of the man advantage, the Stingrays penalty kill held strong and prevented the Stars taking the lead.
That was until 22 seconds after the powerplay expired when star forward Sami Ryhanen put the puck between the legs of Dmitri Rodin on the blueline before beating Bowns with what initially appeared to be a tame effort that the Stingrays keeper would perhaps want back.
Returning forward Tanaka proved to be a big influence in the middle stanza, using his speed to force Dundee to take two penalties in relatively quick succession.
Billy Bagron was the victim of the first burst of speed and, although the Rays were unable to capitalise on the this infraction, they did six minutes later when Tim Krantz fell victim to the same quick acceleration from the Canadian.
With Riopel scrambling to stop an initial Stingrays powerplay effort, the puck fell to Matty Davies - who was presented with a gaping net, which he found to level the score.
Riopel performed heroics for the Stars in the second period - denying goalscoring chances from Osman and Silverthorn - as the Stingrays outshot their opponents 20-9. Heading into the third period it looked like he may be a game-winner for Dundee although, as it would turn out, this would not be the case.
Once again, the Stingrays entered the final 20 minutes with everything to play for against a Gardiner Confernce side and they were the better side from the drop of the puck.
Despite early third period Stingrays pressure in the Dundee zone, it was the Stars that took the lead on 47.29 - Bagron pouncing again on the counter-attack, moments after Riopel denied the Rays, to silence the Hull Arena with a clinical finish on a two-on-one as the Rays defence failed to track back and pick up the extra man.
The goal was a heartbreaker for the home side, who were comfortably in control with less than 15 minutes remaining but, driven by veterans and leaders Dulle and Cloutier, the Rays persevered and picked up where they had left off prior to the goal against the run of play.
After a near match-winning performance in the first two periods, Riopel began to struggle late on, possibly partly due to the sheer possession and territory the Stingrays had gained. That culminated in a speculative point shot from Martin Ondrej - who was again a top performer for the Stingrays - producing a rebound that fell perfectly for a jubilant Cloutier to slot home, five-hole, and tie the game up at 3-3 after 51 minutes.
The momentum was now truly in the Rays favour and they led for the first time in the game two minutes later as Davies again found himself in the right place at the right time with a largely unguarded net to slot home another Riopel rebound for his second of the night.
Jason Silverthorn made it three goals in less than three minutes on 54.26, knocking home a one-timer nearly on top of Riopel after a neat feed from Jereme Tendler on a marginal two-on-one to ice the Stingrays victory.
Never the greatest spectacle in world sport, the Stingrays dug in deep in the third period when it most mattered - as they have done in the last handful of games with their playoff qualification on the line.
Leaders like player-coach Cloutier and captain Dulle have stepped it up a notch at the most important time of year and their performances - particularly Dulle's - have been a big factor in a four game win streak that gives them a fighting chance of making the playoffs.
Saying that, good performances have been plentiful across the ice and each player has played their part in the current run. Whether that is enough to thrust the Rays into the playoffs remains to be seen but whatever the outcome the whole squad can, at the very least, be proud of their efforts over the last couple of weeks.
The victory propels the Stingrays into 8th place in the Elite League and the final playoff spot, one point ahead of Dundee in tenth - who have one game in hand - and one point ahead of Braehead in ninth - who have played one more game. The Rays are now just one point short of Edinburgh and Fife in sixth and seventh having played the same number of games.
The result also maintains their position at the top of the Gardiner Conference - which they now lead by four points, albeit having played more games than all four sides with just one conference game remaining.
They take on the league leading Nottingham Panthers at a near sell-out Hull Arena tomorrow night in the second of a home double header hoping to make it a four point weekend.
The Hull Stingrays tonight trailed the Dundee Stars by three goals to two in the third period but produced a spirited, determined performance with 13 minutes remaining to claim their fourth consecutive win.
Buoyed by the surprise return from injury of Cale Tanaka, the Stingrays got off to the perfect start thanks to the stick of Dominic Osman. The American netted the game's opening goal after just 46 seconds thanks to a sublime between the legs pass from behind the net by player-coach Sylvain Cloutier which caught Dundee netminder Nic Riopel unaware.
In their best period of the sixty minutes, Jeff Hutchins' side came back strongly and, surprise surprise, former Stingray Janis Ozolins - who was released by the Rays for failure to hit the twine - was the man to level for the Scottish side, picking his spot past friend and former teammate Ben Bowns on a swift counter-attack after six minutes.
The Stingrays - who were obviously acutely aware of the Ozolins' abilities on the puck- were having a tough time controlling their former forward early on - though they later combated his skill with the physical, niggly tactic that appeared to be his flaw when in Hull.
Nevertheless, shortly after opening the scoring for Dundee, the Latvian was again troubling the Rays defence forcing defenceman Jeff Smith to bring him down with a hook before a further roughing minor gave the Stars a four minute powerplay.
Though the visitors kept the puck in the offensive zone for the majority of the man advantage, the Stingrays penalty kill held strong and prevented the Stars taking the lead.
That was until 22 seconds after the powerplay expired when star forward Sami Ryhanen put the puck between the legs of Dmitri Rodin on the blueline before beating Bowns with what initially appeared to be a tame effort that the Stingrays keeper would perhaps want back.
Returning forward Tanaka proved to be a big influence in the middle stanza, using his speed to force Dundee to take two penalties in relatively quick succession.
Billy Bagron was the victim of the first burst of speed and, although the Rays were unable to capitalise on the this infraction, they did six minutes later when Tim Krantz fell victim to the same quick acceleration from the Canadian.
With Riopel scrambling to stop an initial Stingrays powerplay effort, the puck fell to Matty Davies - who was presented with a gaping net, which he found to level the score.
Riopel performed heroics for the Stars in the second period - denying goalscoring chances from Osman and Silverthorn - as the Stingrays outshot their opponents 20-9. Heading into the third period it looked like he may be a game-winner for Dundee although, as it would turn out, this would not be the case.
Once again, the Stingrays entered the final 20 minutes with everything to play for against a Gardiner Confernce side and they were the better side from the drop of the puck.
Despite early third period Stingrays pressure in the Dundee zone, it was the Stars that took the lead on 47.29 - Bagron pouncing again on the counter-attack, moments after Riopel denied the Rays, to silence the Hull Arena with a clinical finish on a two-on-one as the Rays defence failed to track back and pick up the extra man.
The goal was a heartbreaker for the home side, who were comfortably in control with less than 15 minutes remaining but, driven by veterans and leaders Dulle and Cloutier, the Rays persevered and picked up where they had left off prior to the goal against the run of play.
After a near match-winning performance in the first two periods, Riopel began to struggle late on, possibly partly due to the sheer possession and territory the Stingrays had gained. That culminated in a speculative point shot from Martin Ondrej - who was again a top performer for the Stingrays - producing a rebound that fell perfectly for a jubilant Cloutier to slot home, five-hole, and tie the game up at 3-3 after 51 minutes.
The momentum was now truly in the Rays favour and they led for the first time in the game two minutes later as Davies again found himself in the right place at the right time with a largely unguarded net to slot home another Riopel rebound for his second of the night.
Jason Silverthorn made it three goals in less than three minutes on 54.26, knocking home a one-timer nearly on top of Riopel after a neat feed from Jereme Tendler on a marginal two-on-one to ice the Stingrays victory.
Never the greatest spectacle in world sport, the Stingrays dug in deep in the third period when it most mattered - as they have done in the last handful of games with their playoff qualification on the line.
Leaders like player-coach Cloutier and captain Dulle have stepped it up a notch at the most important time of year and their performances - particularly Dulle's - have been a big factor in a four game win streak that gives them a fighting chance of making the playoffs.
Saying that, good performances have been plentiful across the ice and each player has played their part in the current run. Whether that is enough to thrust the Rays into the playoffs remains to be seen but whatever the outcome the whole squad can, at the very least, be proud of their efforts over the last couple of weeks.
The victory propels the Stingrays into 8th place in the Elite League and the final playoff spot, one point ahead of Dundee in tenth - who have one game in hand - and one point ahead of Braehead in ninth - who have played one more game. The Rays are now just one point short of Edinburgh and Fife in sixth and seventh having played the same number of games.
The result also maintains their position at the top of the Gardiner Conference - which they now lead by four points, albeit having played more games than all four sides with just one conference game remaining.
They take on the league leading Nottingham Panthers at a near sell-out Hull Arena tomorrow night in the second of a home double header hoping to make it a four point weekend.
FBB Three Stars
1. Kurtis Dulle
2. Matty Davies
2. Matty Davies
3. Sylvain Cloutier
