Stingrays take the match on penalties to complete the Capitals’ winless weekend.
Coming off the back of a defeat to Nottingham, the Edinburgh Capitals were hoping for a better result against the Hull Stingrays on Sunday night at Murrayfield. All square after overtime, the Stingrays, however, took the points after sudden death penalties.
Hull scored their first goal of the evening in the fifth minute through 26, Matthew Davies (assists – 21, 4), after both sides had opening minutes’ chances saved by the respective ‘keepers. The Capitals were soon on the scoreboard themselves, 
with a strike from 7, Jay King (assists – 17, 11), in the seventh minute which squeezed in under the goalie’s pads. It was during a 13th minute Powerplay, that the Stingrays scored their second with a well taken goal from 21, Jason Silverthorn (assists – 81, 83), from close range, to put Hull back into a lead which they held until the end of the period. The match had to be stopped for a few minutes early on as the Edinburgh ‘keeper, Tomas Hiadlovsky, was smacked about the head by an attacking player’s hip as he came out to intercept a loose puck. He soon recovered, though, to play on and finish the match.
Although Hull were 4-2 up in the penalty count during the second period, Edinburgh were unable to capitalise on the Powerplay advantages to draw level. They were thwarted in their attempts by a well organised defence which held onto the puck once they were in possession to run the clock down, so it was down to the third period to decide the match – or so it was thought…
Edinburgh gradually ramped up the pressure in the third, which eventually told with an equalising goal in the tenth minute from 17, Richard Hartmann (assists – 11, 14) who broke through on a Powerplay and fired the puck past the Hull ‘keeper’s right glove for the Capitals’ second. However, it took less than three minutes for 12, Guillame Doucet (assists – 26, 19) to regain the lead for Hull during a Powerplay of their own. Then, with time running out, the Capitals’ coach took the gamble of pulling their ‘keeper and substituting another outfield player. And it was a gamble that paid off as 13, Peter Holecko (assists – 36, 29) came up trumps with the goal that brought the teams level 3-3 and took the match into sudden death overtime. 
In spite of sustained pressure and having a Powerplay during the overtime period, the Capitals didn’t manage to score, so another penalty shootout – the second in two home games for the home side – was on the cards. But, this time it was the away team which took the honours, and the extra point, with a 3-2 shootout win.
Not a great weekend for the Capitals, all-in-all, but it was still a highly entertaining match for the large and loyal crowd that turned out to cheer on their team.
On a final note, a fairly irate ‘Tweet’ flooded in to take umbrage at last week’s comment regarding the Capitals’ league position. Unfortunately, as we came late to the party, the report’s author had consulted the results table and added 2+2 to come up with 10th, rather than 6th, 8th, etc. as there was no other, obvious, information available at the time. We, of course, would welcome it if the ‘Tweeter’ were to provide the necessary details – possibly as a mini early season review – to set the record straight.
This was the tweet….
@EdinReporter @edcapitals oh come on…. this is NOT the first time this season we are off the bottom!!!!! Get your info right !
— Caps Till We Die (@CapsTillWeDie) January 6, 2014
Images from the match will be available here over the next few days.
