Elite League: Sheffield Steelers 7, Edinburgh Capitals 2; Belfast Giants 6, Dundee Stars 4
Roy Mathieu netted a double as clinical Sheffield Steelers cut down bottom club Edinburgh Capitals 7-2 in Yorkshire.
The Murrayfield men’s only joy came from goals by Ainars Podzins and Dylan Anderson and they have now lost their last eight games and won only for times in 42 league outings so far this season.
The Scots, however, held Steelers scoreless in the first period but then three goals hit their net in 11 second-period minutes.
Roy broke the deadlock after 25 minutes and Levi Nelson made it 2-0 two minutes later and Eric Neiley added No 3 after 36 minutes. Anderson unassisted pulled one back
47 seconds later to give some hope to the Scots.
And they held Steelers at bay until the final two minutes when Roy scored with an unassisted strike on an empty net.
Podzins scored for Capitals 33 seconds later but former Capitals defenceman Ben O’Connor started a late goal blitz for the home side.
He scored on the empty net with 57 seconds left on the clock and Kieran David Phillips scored 28 seconds after that.
Keiran Brown ended the scoring with O’Connor assisting with one second left.
Brave Dundee Stars pushed high-flying Belfast Giants but ended up losing 6-4 after being hit by two goals inside the final three minutes.
Jimmy Jensen netted a double and there were singles from Adam Harding and Anthony Mastrodicasa.
The Scots took a shock lead through Harding after 14 minutes with Jordon Cownie and Jensen supplying the ammunition.
But Giants hit back with two unanswered goals in the second period, both from Brendan Connolly, his first coming after 24 minutes followed by a power play strike six minutes later.
Jensen was set-up by Cownie and Cody Carlson to make it 2-2 just over a minute later, but Giants edged ahead again.
This time it was Darcy Murphy who scored 65 seconds after Dundee’s second but the Scots dug deep and Mastrodicasa scored on the power play with an assist from player/coach Omar Pacha to level again.
But Giants claimed three goals in the final session to take the points. Blair Riley made it 4-3 on the power play after 48 minutes only for Jensen to net his second after 53 minutes to set up a grandstand finish.
Murphy on the power play after 57 minutes and Connolly again with 28 seconds left ended the contest.
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.
