Capitals Post Steely Win

Sheffield Steelers came back down with a thump from their Friday night victory after being taken apart by Edinburgh Capitals 6-3 in Elite League action.

The Scottish side delivered a third period surge to record the home win, netting four times in the final session to just one Steelers reply.

Capitals opened a 2-0 lead in the first period courtesy of Neil Hay at 13.59 and Marc Lefebvre at 15.38, but the tables were turned in the second as Robert Farmer and Robert Dowd evened the scores for the visitors at 26.21 and 32.08.

Both sides exchanged early goals in the final session as Sean Perkins edged Capitals ahead at 43.13 only for Farmer to claim his second strike of the night at 44.06.

A powerplay goal from Martin Cingel at 47.70 began the home side's late onslaught, with Mark Garside netting just a minute later and Owen Fussey firing into the empty net with 16 seconds left on the clock to wrap up the win for the hosts.
Road woes

Cardiff Devils road woes continued after the Welsh side were seen off 2-1 by Hull Stingrays following a penalty shootout.

The two opening periods were goalless and it was Lee Mitchell that opened scoring on the powerplay at 44.57 to put the home side one ahead.

Hull appeared to have their win in the bag in regulation time until Cardiff levelled with a Ryan Finnerty strike at 58.20 to send the match into overtime.

Both teams failed to score in the overtime session and the game went to penalty shots, with Hull netting two thanks to Konstantin Kalmikov and Jason Silverthorn but missing their third.

Cardiff could only reply with one courtesy of Mark Smith, meaning Hull prevailed to take the extra point and celebrate their third successive victory.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Panthers suffered their second loss of the weekend after falling to a 3-1 road defeat to Belfast Giants.

Both sides made promising starts but it was Giants who took an early lead as George Awada fired them ahead at 1.03, only for Bruce Richardson to pull the visitors level on the powerplay at 2.46.

The home side netted again at 15.05 courtesy of Colin Shields and followed it up late in the second period with a Pat Bateman goal at 36.16 to cement their 3-1 advantage.

Panthers tried and failed to penetrate the Giants' defence in the third session and the Northern Irish side held firm to secure the two points.

Convincing

Coventry Blaze posted a convincing 5-1 victory over Newcastle Vipers on their own ice to reclaim their spot at the top of the league standings.

The visitors dominated from early on and were leading after only 6.45 thanks to a Greg Chambers powerplay strike which Luke Fulghum followed up 23 seconds later to double the advantage.

Matt Soderstrom made it 3-0 at 17.59 before Vipers managed to respond at 19.23 with a Matic Kralj effort.

Blaze were completely in control in the second period but the only goal came from Dan Carlson at 35.50 on the powerplay to make it 4-1.

It was a similar story in the final session with Blaze going nap at 53.41 as Cruikshank rounded off the scoring to seal a stress-free triumph for Paul Thompson's men.