Stingrays chase full set of Elite League scalps

Hull head to South Wales on Tuesday night in buoyant mood having defeated Elite League leaders Sheffield Steelers 4-3 at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday, before pushing second-placed Belfast Giants close in a 5-2 home defeat 24 hours later.

Cardiff are the only team Hull have failed to beat this season – the closest they came being a 3-3 in their first match of the 2010-11 season in the Challenge Cup in Hull back at the beginning of October.

Since then, the Devils - who up until February looked certainties for the regular season league title having put together a 21-game win-streak - have held the upper-hand over the Stingrays, none more so than back in November when they embarrassed the Yorkshire outfit 12-0 in front of the live TV cameras.

Cardiff have suffered only two defeats on home ice this season, although the second of those came 10 days ago and could prove to be the most costly, going down 5-4 in overtime to title rivals Sheffield.

Hull will make the trip to Cardiff Bay short on numbers as defencemen Craig Mitchell (shoulder) and Aivars Gaisins (work commitments) are both unavailable, along with leading scorer Jereme Tendler and fellow forward Ryan Lake.

Cloutier is desperate to clinch a first season over the Devils, with a top-six finish still mathematically possible.

“It would be good for us to find a way to beat them,” said Cloutier. “It’s always tough down there, but we’ve shown we can compete with the top sides.”

“It’s always difficult in Cardiff, everybody knows that. We need to get through the first 10 minutes or so level and then take it from there.”

Despite finding it difficult to put together a sustained winning streak all season, Cloutier remains satisfied with his team’s performances, even with results not necessarily going their way.

“We’ve been playing well for the past two months. we’d like to have picked up a few more wins obviously. We need to keep doing what we’re doing and just try to take more of our chances.”

It gets no easier for Cloutier’s team after Tuesday night in South Wales in what could prove to be an exhausting end to the season which sees Hull play a game every other day on average between now and March 20.

Thursday takes them to Belfast before two further games follow at the weekend with a Saturday trip to Coventry Blaze followed by a visit from Newcastle Vipers on Sunday night. The Blaze - owned by the same management team as Hull - then pay a final visit of the season to East Yorkshire on Wednesday, March 9.