Elite League round-up January 20 and 21

A round up of the action from Friday January 20 and Saturday January 21 in the Elite Ice Hockey League.

Friday January 20

Belfast Giants 6 Edinburgh Capitals 2

Giants moved nine points clear at the top of the standings with a comfortable win over struggling Capitals at the Odyssey Arena.

A sixth successive win for Giants with only one loss in eleven but for Capitals it’s a fourth straight loss and only one win in twelve.

The homesters were first on the board when Jeff Mason scored after only 4.37 but despite Capitals mustering only a couple of shots on target in the opening period they shocked the home support by tying the session thanks to Rene Jarolin at 10.50.

Giants effectively killed off their opponents by scoring three times in under four minutes early on in the middle session. Strikes from Mark Garside at 23.05, Darryl Lloyd at 24.30 on the powerplay and Aaron Clarke at 26.50 had the hosts 4-1 ahead and cruising.

Capitals continued to struggle to get through the solid home defence and managed only eleven shots on goal during the full sixty minutes. The third period saw late scoring from Robert Dowd for Giants at 52.28, Iain Bowie for the visitors at 53.52 and finally Dowd again at 57.12 on the powerplay to see Doug Christiansen’s men safely home and able to prepare for tomorrow’s huge match against Nottingham again at the Odyssey.

Saturday January 21

Belfast Giants 2 Nottingham Panthers 3

Nottingham brought Belfast’s recent six game winning run to an end, as they picked up a vital two points as they won by the odd goal in five.

The visitors were quickly into their stride as Sami Ryhanan scored his first goal for the Panthers at 1.06. However, the Giants were back on level terms two minutes later with a strike from Adam Keefe at 3.03.

With three seconds left on the clock in the first period, David Clarke with a powerplay goal put the visitors back in front.

The second period went against the run of play the Giants had 17 shots on Kowalski in the Panthers. Whilst at the other end the Panthers offence only managed 8 shots with one of them being a counter as Danny Meyers gave his team a two-goal lead at 37.46.

With nine minutes remaining in the third period Craig Peacock converted with a powerplay goal to make it a one-goal game. The Giants called a time out at 58.50 but it took them until 59.54 before they could pull goaltender Murphy and by that time it was too late.

Braehead Clan 2 Cardiff Devils 3

Cardiff made it five straight road wins with this win by the odd goal in five. Their last four have all been in Scotland. As for the Clan, they have now lost their last three games and are now seven points behind tonight’s visitors who are in fourth place.

Only the one goal separated the teams after the first session and it came early on in the period as Jade Galbraith put the home team in front at 1.21 with a powerplay goal.

Cardiff upped the ante in the second period, as they tried to get back into the game. Despite out shooting their opponents 15-4 it took them until 38.37 to get back on level terms with a powerplay goal from Phil Hill.

The visitors took the lead at 49.23 with a strike from Ben Davies. With five minutes of the game remaining Jordan Krestanovich tied the game up at two-apiece. At this point, the Devils lost the services of Chris Frank as he received a 10 plus a game misconduct for abuse of an official.

This did not deter the Devils as 27 seconds later Phil Hill netted his second of the game and the game winner.

Fife Flyers 3 Coventry Blaze 2

(After Penalty Shootout)

Having lost their last two road games Coventry were determined to collect the points in their fight for fourth place with Cardiff and Braehead. Fife on the other hand were hoping to build on their midweek win against Scottish rivals Braehead.

In the end after a tight contest throughout it was the hosts who came out on top with a win after a penalty shootout.

An opening period that saw 21 shots being fired in on the goaltenders. The only marker came the way of the visitors as Greg Owen opened the scoring at 14.40.

The teams traded goal in the second session, Coventry took a two-goal lead with a strike from Matic Kralj at 30.43. Three minutes later the Flyers pulled one back with a goal from Toms Hartmannis.

Into the third period and with only a goal between the teams the next goal was going to be vital. At 57.40 ex-Blaze Danny Stewart had them singing in Kirkcaldy as he netted on the powerplay to tie it up at two-apiece.

The overtime period failed to find a winner and it would be penalty shots that would decide the outcome. Denis Kadic of the Flyers was the only player to find the net and the celebrating began.

Hull Stingrays 2 Dundee Stars 5

Dundee’s last nine games on the road have seen them fail to pick up a win, but they got that monkey off their back with a convincing win against Hull thanks to a four goal spree in the third period.

After a goalless first period, it was the hosts who opened the scoring with a powerplay goal from Player/coach Sylvain Cloutier at 26.49.Dundee got back on level terms with a strike from Mark Holanos at 35.25.

Three goals in a two-minute spell at the start of the third saw Dundee with a one-goal lead. Brennan Turner put them in front at 42.02. However, that was short lived as Jason Silverthorn levelled the game at two-apiece at 43.15. Within a minute, the visitors regained the lead as Jeff Hutchins fired home at 44.04.

Hutchins got his second of the game at 50.27 to open up a two-goal lead. The scoring was completed by John Dolan at 59.28 as he found the empty net after Hull had pulled goaltender Boucher.