Stingrays and Steelers mixing highs with lows

The 6-2 triumph followed on from a disappointing 8-3 defeat at the hands of Fife Flyers 24 hours earlier on Saturday night in Scotland – coming less than a week after Hull had beaten the Kirkcaldy club 3-1 on home ice.

But two goals apiece from Cory Tanaka – enough to make him Hull’s leading points scorer for the season – and leading goalscorer Jordan Mayer helped Stingrays gain revenge for two earlier Conference defeats to Ryan Finnerty’s team.

Strikes from Dominic Osman and captain Matty Davies helped complete a deserved win for the home side with Braehead’s goals from Leigh Salters and Zack Fitzgerald coming in the third period.

The previous night in Fife had started brightly for Hull as they took a 2-1 lead into the second period through strikes from the in-form Mayer and Tanaka.

But four unanswered goals after the break saw momentum swing the Flyers’ way. Tanaka got his second of the night at 43.09 to take Hull to within two, but three goals in five minutes took the home side out of sight.

“It’s up there with the best performance of the season,” said a delighted player-coach Pacah afterwards.

“We were short of bodies and after the result in Fife we showed a lot of character.

“We kept it very simple and generated a lot of offence, we stayed disciplined and we stuck to the system and good things happened.

“It proved that when we follow the system and play as a unit and a team, play defence first our chances will come and that’s what happened.

“I am proud of the guys, they played a lot of minutes and they stepped up. Everyone played well and they delivered.”

It was also a time of contrasting fortunes for Sheffield Steelers, who spent their weekend in Scotland.

Mathieu Roy’s hat-trick in Murrayfield helped Gerad Adams’s side inflict a painful 10-3 home defeat on bottom club Edinburgh Capitals on Saturday night.

But the Steelers’ own weekend was to end on a down note when they slipped to only their second league defeat of the campaign in a 4-2 reverse at second-bottom Dundee Stars.

Steelers almost outshot their hosts two-to-one on the night, but faced an uphill battle when going in 2-1 down at the end of the first – Roy on target on the powerplay after Martin Cingel and John Dolan had struck for the Stars.

Roy then levelled at 24.31 to bring Steelers level, only for a powerplay goal from Igor Gongalsky at 32.21 to put the Stars back in front.

Player-coach Jeff Hutchins then sealed the points with an early third period strike.

“This was a game we dominated for the most part” said frustrated Steelers head coach Adams.

“We created enough chances to win the game, more than enough chances. But we made some silly individual errors and every time we made one the puck ended up in the back of our net.

“We played good enough to win this game, but I guess there will be times this year when we won’t play well enough to win and we will win.

“Well done to Dundee, congratulations to them – but we really should have been driving back with 4 points after this weekend.”

RESULTS

Sunday, Elite League: Cardiff Devils 1 Nottingham Panthers 2, Coventry Blaze 5 Belfast Giants 1, Dundee Stars 4 Sheffield Steelers 2, Fife Flyers 5 Edinburgh Capitals 2, Hull Stingrays 6 Braehead Clan 2.

Saturday, Elite League: Edinburgh Capitals 2 Sheffield Steelers 10, Fife Flyers 8 Hull Stingray 3, Nottingham Panthers 3 Coventry Blaze 1.

Challenge Cup, Group A: Braehead Clan 3 Dundee Stars 0.