Ice Hockey: Capitals have no sympathy for Devils

Published on Thursday 11 March 2010 08:59

EDINBURGH Capitals had double cause for celebration last night when they tamed Cardiff Devils and added a new British forward to their line-up.

The Murrayfield men's 22nd win in 50 games extends their franchise record to 51 points – the previous best was 44 – and takes them level on points with fifth-placed Sheffield Steelers.

And the 8-3 victory was a welcome boost ahead of a physically demanding six-game run-in to complete the regular season, with five of the games being on the road.

The new addition, Kris Phillips, is a native of Dundee and was given his chance after contacting Capitals by email.

Doug Christiansen, Capitals' director of hockey, followed up the inquiry and the youngster was given a taste of Elite League action in the later stages of last night's win over Devils.

Phillips, who is a 6ft 1in forward, played junior hockey in Ontario, Canada, and Christiansen commented: "Kris is a good young player. He has good size and skates well.

"He has only trained with us once, however, he looked very good. I think he can be a valuable addition to the Capitals organisation.

"I'm not sure how much he will play right away, but I think he has all the tools to be an effective player in the Elite League."

Capitals brushed aside a tired-looking Devils combine to take the points and set themselves up for a trip to Newcastle Vipers, who lost 3-2 at bottom club Hull Stingrays last night, on Saturday.

Capitals then travel to Belfast Giants on Sunday and Christiansen, reflecting on last night's game, said: "We played poorly in the first period but, in the second, we did enough to win the game.

"We never really let them back in the third and we suppressed any momentum they had."

Devils arrived at the Riversdale rink having been edged 8-7 on aggregate in the Challenge Cup Final, second leg, at Nottingham Panthers on Tuesday and Christiansen admitted: "I don't think they had a lot of jump and I think they spent their tank at Nottingham in the final.

"However, you can only beat the team that is across from you and we're level with Sheffield and we have two games in hand. We did our business and hope the results can go our way. It's the business end of the season and we have four road games coming up.

"Either at home or on the road you have to pick up points and we're going to Newcastle looking to get points."

Last night, Capitals tied the first session 1-1 but took command thereafter, winning the second 4-1 and the third 3-1.

It took nearly 11 minutes for them to find the net, defenceman Mark Smith supplying the finishing touch after a smart move.

However, Devils pulled one back less than eight minutes later when Mark Smith netted from point-blank range. Lambert turned from provider to poacher in the 24th minute to put the home side 2-1 in front and, four minutes later, Michael Beynon extended the home side's advantage after Capitals were camped in Cardiff's zone.

It became 4-1 at 30min 05sec thanks to a rebound strike from Jordan Steel but the Devils were denied a goal when the puck hit netminder Cody Rudkowsky and rebounded off a post.

Seconds later, Marc Lefebvre's piledriver from an acute angle on the right wing clipped the post.

Devils, however, pulled one back when their top marksman Max Birbraer netted seven minutes after that with a rasping shot on the turn from the right wing.

Martin Cingel struck Capitals' fifth two minutes later for a 5-2 advantage and Dan Welch popped in No.6 in the 48th minute.

Birbraer landed Cardiff's third but it was too little too late as Lambert snatched his second and Capitals seventh on a five-on-three power play with less than six minutes remaining and Mark Paterson completed the scoring with 1min 12sec left.

The shot count was even at 31-31 and it was a shame that only 259 fans ventured out to watch one of the club's most emphatic home wins of the season so far.