Shoot-out win ends Hull’s Cardiff agony

Hull had lost on all 10 of their previous visits since Cloutier took over as coach in 2009, but had looked well-placed to secure two points in normal time when they went in 2-0 ahead by the end of the second period.

Osman stunned the home side with a goal at 5.04 before Jereme Tendler struck his 13th of the season in the 19th minute.

Hull ran into penalty trouble in the second period but managed to keep out Cardiff, who eventually halved the deficit in the third period through Stuart McRae at 44.47.

Kenton Smith then levelled for the home side at 53.08, but neither side could find a third, even after five minutes of overtime, leading to a nail-biting shoot-out.

Matty Davies missed for Hull, with Scott Dobben and Mark Richardson off-target for the hosts. But Osman and Bakrlik held their nerve to secure a long overdue win in the principality for the Yorkshire club.

The result extended Hull’s win streak to two games and saw them draw level on points with Edinburgh Capitals, who have three games in hand.

Cloutier takes his team to the National Ice Centre on Saturday night to face second-placed Nottingham Panthers, before returning home the following night to welcome Braehead Clan to Hull Arena for the second time this season.

The previous meeting between the two teams in East Yorkshire saw Hull romp to a 9-4 victory.

“It is a massive road win for us,” said a delighted and somewhat relieved Cloutier afterwards. “We knew they would come at us hard and we tried to stay disciplined, although it did not work out that way.

“But our penalty killing was outstanding and when you are killing so many penalties you need your goalie to come up big for you and Bouch [Christian Boucher] did that for us, he made some great saves.

“It was a great team effort. Despite all the penalties we kept going and I keep on telling the guys you have to work and compete for 60 minutes in every game. You do that and you will win games.

“This is the toughest building to play in so to come out with two big points, I am really proud of the guys. Every one was committed and did a great job.”