Stingrays made to suffer once again by Panthers

Sylvain Cloutier’s side – once again without captain and defenceman Kurtis Dulle due to a foot infection – had already been beaten 6-2 and 6-1 at Nottingham ahead of Monday night’s visit, where they were out-shot by a rampant home side 62-17.

They had been able to hold the Panthers to 3-3 by the end of the second period in Hull last Thursday before their lack of bodies told dearly in the third as Nottingham eventually romped to a 9-3 win.

In Nottingham, Brandon Benedict scored the only goal of the first period for Panthers, before Stingrays’ netminder Christian Boucher was pounded with 23 shots in the second, with Jeff Heerema and David Clarke‘s powerplay strike finding their way past the over-worked Canadian.

Any hopes Hull had of taking something from the game were dashed less than three minutes into the third when Clarke grabbed his second of the night. Benedict made it 5-0 with his 14th of the season at 46.25.

To make matters worse for the visitors, Edinburgh Capitals defeated bottom club Fife Flyers 4-1 to put four points between themselves and eighth-placed Hull, who remain eight points clear of Dundee Stars and Fife.

Nottingham’s sixth straight win wasn’t enough to reduce the gap from three points on leaders Belfast Giants, who enjoyed a comfortable 4-1 win at Dundee, Graeme Walton, Tom Dignard, and former Sheffield Steelers’ favourite Robert Dowd (2) finding the net after AJ MacLean had given the home side a first-period lead.

IN the English Premier League, Sheffield Steeldogs enjoyed a 3-2 win at home over Telford Tigers.

The result leaves Andre Payette’s side fifth in the table, level on points with fierce rivals Manchester Phoenix but with a game in hand.