Hull Stingrays 5-2 Edinburgh Capitals
The Hull Stingrays completed a four point weekend over Gardiner Conference rivals the Edinburgh Capitals tonight, following up last night's 4-3 triumph in Edinburgh with a 5-2 victory at the Hull Arena thanks to doubles from Jason Silverthorn and Guillaume Doucet.
Similarly to Saturday night at Murrayfield, it was Edinburgh that came out stronger in the opening period but it would be the Stingrays that would open the scoring against the run of play.
After a quiet, scrappy start to the game, the Stingrays - who netted four powerplay goals on eight opportunities last night - were given their first opportunity of the game thanks to a Martin Cingel hooking penalty.
The Rays powerplay continued where it left off on the 24 hours earlier in Scotlant as Sylvain Cloutier broke into the offensive zone and fed Jason Silverthorn. The Canadian - who netted twice at Murrayfield - then brilliantly worked the puck between two Edinburgh defencemen on the backhand and outwaited netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky before switching to the forehand to open the scoring on 8.39.
Edinburgh once again had much better control on the puck than the Stingrays, particularly in the first period, and were playing a sound road game despite trailing, snuffing out the home sides offence while playing confidently going forward.
Having controlled large parts and outshot the Rays 17-7 in the first period, Edinburgh leveled on 11.13 as Jan Safar reacted quickest to a Martin Ondrej blocked shot which dropped at the Slovakian's feet before squeaking his shot through Bowns and across the line.
The Capitals then took the lead on 6.22 into the second period as a Michal Dobron blast from the point took a wicked deflection off Carl Lauzon's stray stick and found its way in off Bowns' far post. Though it was an awful piece of misfortune from a Stingrays perspective, in truth it was no more than Edinburgh deserved following their first period performance.
Regrettably for the visitors though, they didn't take advantage of their early performance and equally their performance in the final 30 minutes did not match that of their performance in opening 30 minutes.
The turning point of the game followed minutes after the Capitals second goal as the Stingrays were penalised for too many men on the ice on 27.08 before Jeff Smith took a roughing penalty having caught Cingel with a high glove on a big hit along the boards on 28.15.
After converting only one of ten powerplay opportunities on Saturday night, the Capitals were again unable to find that crucial goal on the ensuing five-on-three powerplay as the Stingrays came up with a huge penalty kill to restrict Edinburgh's lead to one goal.
That huge penalty kill gave the Stingrays real momentum and just 15 seconds after Smith's penalty expired the puck fell to Jereme Tendler in prime position in front of Hiadlovsky to level the score at 2-2.
The momentum continued and Guillaume Doucet then appeared to have given the Stingrays the lead as the goal light flickered on, only for the linesman to signal the puck had not crossed the line. Following the next stoppage in play the linesman and referee Tom Darnell confirmed the puck had not crossed the line after some mild protestation from Doucet.
Nevertheless, two minutes later Doucet made sure, giving the home side a 3-2 lead on a huge rebound from a low, bobbling Omar Pacha slapshot that took an age to reach the Caps net and which Hiadlovsky struggled to deal. What was the eventual game winning goal came moments after a hooking penalty on Les Reaney ended with the Rays still enjoying the benefits of the expired powerplay.
The Stingrays went from strength to strength late in the second period following the quickfire double and importantly they opened up a two goal cushion heading into the third period. Jason Silverthorn utilised traffic in front of the Edinburgh net to fire home from the top of the left circle, recording his fourth powerplay goal in just two games, ninth goal of the season and 101st in Stingrays colours late in the second period.
Two goals down, the expected Edinburgh offensive blitz in the third period never truly materialised and the Stingrays would end up winding down the third period in complete and comfortable control.
There would still be time for Doucet to add the Stingrays fifth of the night with a lovely late individual goal on 55.09 having picked the puck up in neutral ice following a poor Capitals outlet pass. The French-Canadian first used a burst of speed to beat the final defenceman before reverting to backhand, angling across Hiadlovsky and then backhanding his shot high over the shoulder of the Slovakian netminder to round off a good performance and what turned out to be a comprehensive win.
The victory completed a far from straightforward first four point weekend of the season for the Stingrays against a good Edinburgh outfit that could have easily taken points off the Rays had they been more clinical - notably on the powerplay. However, regardless of how the two victories came about, the Stingrays will be delighted with the outcome and have a good platform to build from after a difficult period of results.
Sylvain Cloutier's side now have points from their last four consecutive games which includes three wins and a shootout loss in the Gardiner Conference. Perhaps importantly, after this weekend they now also have two wins away from home in their conference, which is an area they were keep to improve on in their quest to win the Gardiner Conference.
Individually, in Tendler, Silverthorn, Doucet and Davies, the Stingrays have four players in the Elite League's top 20 pointscorers and an in-form netminder in Bowns. With Lauzon's potential beginning to show offensively as he gels with linemates Silverthorn and Doucet, and a decision on the ban on Derek Campbell's import spot and potential replacement rumoured things are certainly looking up in the Stingrays camp.
The Hull Stingrays completed a four point weekend over Gardiner Conference rivals the Edinburgh Capitals tonight, following up last night's 4-3 triumph in Edinburgh with a 5-2 victory at the Hull Arena thanks to doubles from Jason Silverthorn and Guillaume Doucet.
Similarly to Saturday night at Murrayfield, it was Edinburgh that came out stronger in the opening period but it would be the Stingrays that would open the scoring against the run of play.
After a quiet, scrappy start to the game, the Stingrays - who netted four powerplay goals on eight opportunities last night - were given their first opportunity of the game thanks to a Martin Cingel hooking penalty.
The Rays powerplay continued where it left off on the 24 hours earlier in Scotlant as Sylvain Cloutier broke into the offensive zone and fed Jason Silverthorn. The Canadian - who netted twice at Murrayfield - then brilliantly worked the puck between two Edinburgh defencemen on the backhand and outwaited netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky before switching to the forehand to open the scoring on 8.39.
Edinburgh once again had much better control on the puck than the Stingrays, particularly in the first period, and were playing a sound road game despite trailing, snuffing out the home sides offence while playing confidently going forward.
Having controlled large parts and outshot the Rays 17-7 in the first period, Edinburgh leveled on 11.13 as Jan Safar reacted quickest to a Martin Ondrej blocked shot which dropped at the Slovakian's feet before squeaking his shot through Bowns and across the line.
The Capitals then took the lead on 6.22 into the second period as a Michal Dobron blast from the point took a wicked deflection off Carl Lauzon's stray stick and found its way in off Bowns' far post. Though it was an awful piece of misfortune from a Stingrays perspective, in truth it was no more than Edinburgh deserved following their first period performance.
Regrettably for the visitors though, they didn't take advantage of their early performance and equally their performance in the final 30 minutes did not match that of their performance in opening 30 minutes.
The turning point of the game followed minutes after the Capitals second goal as the Stingrays were penalised for too many men on the ice on 27.08 before Jeff Smith took a roughing penalty having caught Cingel with a high glove on a big hit along the boards on 28.15.
After converting only one of ten powerplay opportunities on Saturday night, the Capitals were again unable to find that crucial goal on the ensuing five-on-three powerplay as the Stingrays came up with a huge penalty kill to restrict Edinburgh's lead to one goal.
That huge penalty kill gave the Stingrays real momentum and just 15 seconds after Smith's penalty expired the puck fell to Jereme Tendler in prime position in front of Hiadlovsky to level the score at 2-2.
The momentum continued and Guillaume Doucet then appeared to have given the Stingrays the lead as the goal light flickered on, only for the linesman to signal the puck had not crossed the line. Following the next stoppage in play the linesman and referee Tom Darnell confirmed the puck had not crossed the line after some mild protestation from Doucet.
Nevertheless, two minutes later Doucet made sure, giving the home side a 3-2 lead on a huge rebound from a low, bobbling Omar Pacha slapshot that took an age to reach the Caps net and which Hiadlovsky struggled to deal. What was the eventual game winning goal came moments after a hooking penalty on Les Reaney ended with the Rays still enjoying the benefits of the expired powerplay.
The Stingrays went from strength to strength late in the second period following the quickfire double and importantly they opened up a two goal cushion heading into the third period. Jason Silverthorn utilised traffic in front of the Edinburgh net to fire home from the top of the left circle, recording his fourth powerplay goal in just two games, ninth goal of the season and 101st in Stingrays colours late in the second period.
Two goals down, the expected Edinburgh offensive blitz in the third period never truly materialised and the Stingrays would end up winding down the third period in complete and comfortable control.
There would still be time for Doucet to add the Stingrays fifth of the night with a lovely late individual goal on 55.09 having picked the puck up in neutral ice following a poor Capitals outlet pass. The French-Canadian first used a burst of speed to beat the final defenceman before reverting to backhand, angling across Hiadlovsky and then backhanding his shot high over the shoulder of the Slovakian netminder to round off a good performance and what turned out to be a comprehensive win.
The victory completed a far from straightforward first four point weekend of the season for the Stingrays against a good Edinburgh outfit that could have easily taken points off the Rays had they been more clinical - notably on the powerplay. However, regardless of how the two victories came about, the Stingrays will be delighted with the outcome and have a good platform to build from after a difficult period of results.
Sylvain Cloutier's side now have points from their last four consecutive games which includes three wins and a shootout loss in the Gardiner Conference. Perhaps importantly, after this weekend they now also have two wins away from home in their conference, which is an area they were keep to improve on in their quest to win the Gardiner Conference.
Individually, in Tendler, Silverthorn, Doucet and Davies, the Stingrays have four players in the Elite League's top 20 pointscorers and an in-form netminder in Bowns. With Lauzon's potential beginning to show offensively as he gels with linemates Silverthorn and Doucet, and a decision on the ban on Derek Campbell's import spot and potential replacement rumoured things are certainly looking up in the Stingrays camp.
FBB Three Stars
1. Jason Silverthorn (2+0)
2. Guillaume Doucet (2+0)
3. Ben Bowns (38 saves)
