Ice Hockey – Edinburgh Capitals v Dundee Stars

Capitals put four past Stars to take a much needed win.

The last time Dundee Stars visited Murrayfield they lost a close match by the odd goal, 3-2, and on Sunday night the Capitals managed to repeat the feat, again by the odd goal, by winning 4-3.

The Capitals were first on the score sheet after 41 seconds from a Richard Hartmann (assists – 36, 24) goal when the player/coach took the puck half the length of the ice, wide of the Stars’ goal, before pivoting and sliding the puck past the opposition ‘keeper. The Stars followed this up with a period of pressure on the Edinburgh goal, but were held out by some fine saves by Hiadlovsky. Meanwhile, Dan Bakala was performing a few fine saves of his own at the other end. Ten minutes in, on a Powerplay, Dundee’s Billy Bagron pounced on a loose puck just outside the goal area and, feinting to shoot, sent Hiadlovsky the wrong way. 16, John Dolan then had the easy job of planting the puck in the back of the net for the equaliser. The rest of the period was typically end to end, but the period ended with the sides even at one goal apiece.

The Stars came out strongly for the second period and piled on the pressure. Edinburgh did manage to make Bakala pull out a couple of fine saves, but a ‘slashing’ penalty for an Edinburgh player gave another Powerplay to the Stars, which the duly took advantage of to score their second. A melee in the goal mouth saw 72, Jeff Hutchins, get his stick to the puck and force it over the line for the goal. A long range shot in from Dolan whistled past the unsighted Hiadlovsky to take the Stars into a 3-1 lead. Edinburgh were quickly on the case, however, and a couple of minutes later, 97, Marcus Zembergs (assists – 13, 29) fired in from close range. Bakala, in the Dundee goal, couldn’t hold onto the puck and it found its way into the back of the net for Edinburgh’s second goal of the game. The Capitals piled on the pressure for the rest of the period but the clock ran down with the score 3-2 to Dundee.

The third period was all about the Capitals. Early in the period, a man down, 11, Curtis Leinweber (assist – 36) found the back of the net from close range to draw the teams level. Increasing pressure on the Stars’ goal, Bakala found shots raining in from all angles. Eventually, one found its way past from Leinweber (assists – 43, 17) and the Capitals went into a one goal lead. They kept up the momentum for the rest of the period – which found the crowd being ‘entertained’ for the second week in a row by the visiting coach throwing his toys out of the pram following a refereeing decision against – and finished the match with that one goal lead to take their first win in twelve matches.

This was a fine performance from the Capitals which belied their league position and might make Scott Neil’s meeting with the fans on Wednesday a tiny bit easier

Images from the match will appear here over the next couple of days