Elite League: Sheffield Steelers 5, Edinburgh Capitals 2
Michal Dubron skated in his 1,000th ice hockey game but there was little else to cheer the veteran Czech defenceman who is Edinburgh Capitals’ player/coach.
Bottom club Capitals skidded to a 5-2 defeat at third-placed Sheffield Steelers who are chasing a third, straight Elite League title.
Earlier, injury-hit Edinburgh, minus Taylor MacDougall and Jared Staal, held high-flying Sheffield 0-0 after the opening 20 minutes despite being outshot 13-8 but the Yorkshire side then skated to a 3-0 lead after 13 minutes of the middle session.
Their goals arrived from Mathieu Roy after six minutes, John Armstrong two minutes later and Colton Fretter five minutes after that.
Former Capitals defenceman Ben O’Connor assisted in all the strikes but Edinburgh did pull one back when Jaro Hertl netted unassisted on the power play with former Braehead Clan star Zack Fitzgerald in the sin bin for tripping. Time 34min 32sec.
The home side’s dominance was underlined by the shot count, 20 on Capitals’ No 1 Travis Fullerton and ten in reply against Ervins Mustukovs.
And Capitals shocked home fans by grabbing a second, also on the power play, through defenceman Michael D’Orazio with Ian Schultz supplying the ammunition after 49 minutes.
Any hope the visitors had of getting something from the game evaporated when Mike Ratchuk scored just under two minutes later.
And John Armstrong found the empty net with 39 seconds left after Dobron withdrew his netminder to give Capitals six skaters.
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
