Cardiff Devils 2-1 Hull Stingrays
The Hull Stingrays tonight ensured they claimed three points from an available four this weekend as they took the Cardiff Devils to overtime and then a shootout before falling by two goals to one on sudden death penalty shots.
The Stingrays - without injured forward Jason Silverthorn - fell behind with just 28 seconds remaining in the first period thanks to a Mac Faulkner goal but Matty Davies struck with 91 seconds remaining in the second period to tie the game up.
A goalless but physical third period followed before the tie went into overtime and then penalty shots.
First round shootout goals from Jereme Tendler and Jake Morrisette and misses from Guillaume Doucet, Max Birbraer, Carl Lauzon and Tomas Kurka then saw penalty shots progress into sudden death.
Tendler and Morrisette missed their sudden death attempts before a miss from Doucet - who produced a massive shootout goal to give the Stingrays the shootout win in Cardiff earlier in the season - allowed Birbraer to claim the extra point for a resurgent Cardiff side.
The incredibly hard fought and valuable point for the Stingrays narrows the deficit between them and Cardiff in eighth to just one point.
Following Coventry's win in Nottingham tonight the Stingrays are now just three points behind the fifth place Panthers, however, they are also now equal on 40 points with the Blaze in sixth place in a tightly packed Elite League.
Nevertheless, shootout loss ensures the gap between the Rays and Fife Flyers in ninth spot in the Elite League is 12 points - down from 13 points last night after Fife's triumph over Edinburgh this evening.
Sylvain Cloutier's side return to action live on Premier Sports on Wednesday night against the Flyers at Hull Arena before two Erhardt Conference fixtures in Belfast and at home to Nottingham next weekend.
The Hull Stingrays tonight ensured they claimed three points from an available four this weekend as they took the Cardiff Devils to overtime and then a shootout before falling by two goals to one on sudden death penalty shots.
The Stingrays - without injured forward Jason Silverthorn - fell behind with just 28 seconds remaining in the first period thanks to a Mac Faulkner goal but Matty Davies struck with 91 seconds remaining in the second period to tie the game up.
A goalless but physical third period followed before the tie went into overtime and then penalty shots.
First round shootout goals from Jereme Tendler and Jake Morrisette and misses from Guillaume Doucet, Max Birbraer, Carl Lauzon and Tomas Kurka then saw penalty shots progress into sudden death.
Tendler and Morrisette missed their sudden death attempts before a miss from Doucet - who produced a massive shootout goal to give the Stingrays the shootout win in Cardiff earlier in the season - allowed Birbraer to claim the extra point for a resurgent Cardiff side.
The incredibly hard fought and valuable point for the Stingrays narrows the deficit between them and Cardiff in eighth to just one point.
Following Coventry's win in Nottingham tonight the Stingrays are now just three points behind the fifth place Panthers, however, they are also now equal on 40 points with the Blaze in sixth place in a tightly packed Elite League.
Nevertheless, shootout loss ensures the gap between the Rays and Fife Flyers in ninth spot in the Elite League is 12 points - down from 13 points last night after Fife's triumph over Edinburgh this evening.
Sylvain Cloutier's side return to action live on Premier Sports on Wednesday night against the Flyers at Hull Arena before two Erhardt Conference fixtures in Belfast and at home to Nottingham next weekend.
