Stingrays' Cloutier: Result didn't show how well we played

COACH Sylvain Cloutier insists the 6-2 scoreline fails to reflect how well Excel Hull Stingrays played in their defeat against Sheffield Steelers.

Stingrays produced a stunning effort to defeat leaders Coventry 2-1 at Hull Arena on Saturday.

However, having taken a 2-1 lead in Sheffield last night, Stingrays leaked five unanswered goals to lose 6-2.

Cloutier said: "It was a weird game last night, I don't believe it was a 6-2 match.

"Sheffield had three deflections – sometimes they hit a pad and sometimes they go in – last night they went in, so it was more a 3-2 game.

"It's just disappointing because we played some very good hockey, but the result didn't show it."

A Mike Sgroi powerplay goal gave Steelers a sixth-minute lead, but a Konstantin Kalmikov short-hander three minutes later and a 24th-minute strike put Stingrays 2-1 up.

However, Jason Hewitt and Scott Basiuk (powerplay) netted inside two minutes to give Steelers a 3-2 lead they never relinquished.

Doug Sheppard made it 4-2 at the second interval.

Although Stingrays continued to battle, two goals in the last five minutes from Jeff Legue and Matt Hubbauer gave Steelers victory.

On Saturday Coventry took the lead through Luke Fulghum on the powerplay after 13 minutes.

After withstanding further Coventry pressure, Stingrays hit back in the second period with Kalmikov blasting home in the 28th minute.

Lee Mitchell's fine finish on 43 minutes put Stingrays 2-1 in front and Cloutier's side hung on for their first victory over table- topping Blaze this season.

With Newcastle beating Edinburgh 3-2 after penalty shots, Stingrays remain nine points adrift at the foot of the Elite League.

However, Cloutier declared himself satisfied with his team's progress ahead of the play-offs.

He added: "On Saturday we played a pretty disciplined game and played for 60 minutes.

"We did not get too down when Coventry got their goal, we kept plugging away and got a big win.

"I'm not disappointed with the guys last night, they battled hard.

"Our goal is to get two points every weekend.

"We have to stay positive, we played some good hockey and we need to keep building on it."

A new Glasgow-based team – Braehead Clan – look set to join the Elite League next season.