Revenge sweet as Hull thump Stars

But Sylvain Cloutier's side were unable to draw level with sixth-placed Braehead Clan on Wednesday night after they inflicted further misery on the Nottingham Panthers by clinching a 3-2 win in overtime at the NIC.

Hull's two previous encounters with Dundee – both north of the border – had brought nothing but misery for the Yorkshire club. A 9-4 hammering in November was followed a month later by a 4-2 defeat.

But - in what was their third game in as many nights - it took Hull just six minutes to gain the initiative on home ice when Trevor Read put them ahead. Player-coach Cloutier doubled the lead with a shorthanded goal at 24.46 before Andrew Coburn made it 3-0 at 32.13.

Dan Ceman pulled one back for the Stars early in the third period, but Cloutier restored the three-goal cushion a minute later with his second of the night.

Jason Silverthorn made it 5-1 at 48.15, while captain Kurtis Dulle wrapped up the scoring just over five minutes later, extending the gap between Hull and Dundee in the table to seven points.

Braehead's victory in Nottingham leaves them two points ahead of Hull, although the Stingrays do have four games in hand.

A delighted Cloutier was quick to praise the ability of hjis players to bounce back after the previous night's 3-2 defeat in overtime to bottom club newcastle Vipers - that result coming 24 hours after a convicning 7-4 triumph in Whitley bay against Danny Stewart's struggling team.

"It was a massive win for us," said Cloutier. "We played a lot better tonight and we matched their intensity.

"You know Dundee are going to compete for 60 minutes and be physical and we stood up to that. We talked before the game about what happened last night against Newcastle and the guys went out there and got the job done.

"It was a good team win. We made a slow start but we didn't get frustrated, we stuck to the game-plan and kept plugging away."

Sheffield Steelers will look to return to second spot in the table when they take on the Coventry Blaze at Sheffield Arena tonight (7.30pm).