Ice Hockey: Capitals undone by late goal blitz

Edinburgh CAPITALS lost 4-3 to Elite League title-chasing Sheffield Steelers at Murrayfield last night with player-coach Richard Hartmann declaring that ten minutes of poor play in the third period cost them the game.

With less than 15 minutes to go, battling Capitals – icing new signing Iain Bowie – led the slick Yorkshire outfit 2-1, before three Sheffield goals in as many minutes turned the game the way of the visitors.

Hartmann said: “I’m very disappointed. I said to the guys we have to play well for 60 minutes. We played well for 50.

“Sheffield are a good team and we gave them chances to score, they certainly did that, and in five minutes it was all over.”

Edinburgh, already without Martin Petrina, Danny McIntyre and Bari McKenzie, were dealt a further blow when Czech forward Jiri Hanzal was forced to leave the game after the first period. It is believed he aggravated a groin injury picked up in practice earlier this week.

The game started slowly with Sheffield, despite this being their third match in as many nights, looking the sharper of the two teams, creating the better chances, and forcing Capitals net-minder Nathan Craze into some fine stops.

Steelers deservedly took the lead in the 13th minute. Edinburgh failed to clear their lines, allowing American defenceman Chad Huttel to fire a slap shot through a crowd. Craze made the save but Lee Esders scored from the rebound.

Craze continued his fine form in the second period, making several stops from point blank range. In the 38th minute and against the run of play, Capitals equalised. The goal mirrored Sheffield’s opener, Rene Jarolin scoring from a rebound after a Jozef Sladok shot was not properly dealt with by Steelers goalie John DeCaro.

The goal seemed to lift the confidence of the home team, and to the delight of the fans Edinburgh took the lead at 44.18. Lovely passing between Hartmann and Iain Bowie, who was moved up to the first line after Hanzal’s injury, created space for Jarolin to shoot past DeCaro – the red-hot Slovakian has netted eight times in his last four games, and tops the goalscoring charts with 32 for the season.

Sheffield’s GB international forward Jonathan Phillips restored parity with a power-play goal two minutes later with a wrist shot that squeezed between Craze’s pads.

Inexplicably, Capitals then caved in defensively, conceding twice in 20 seconds. Slack positioning allowed Jeff Legue time to pick out Steve Birnstill with a cross ice pass, and he roofed a great finish over Craze at 48.24 before gritty American forward Colt King scored a fourth for Sheffield at 48.44.

Try as they might, a shell-shocked Edinburgh could not force any real pressure on the Sheffield defence, who looked an impressive team. However, Capitals did score a consolation third goal on the power-play with 12 seconds left, a neat move finished off by Marcis Zembergs.

New addition Bowie, snapped up immediately by the Capitals after being released by Fife Flyers on Saturday, for his third spell with the club, looked good on his debut.

He said: ”I’m really happy to be back, it seems like there’s a really nice group of guys here. I’m thankful to have been given a shot and I just need to make the most of it.”

The 21 year-old Fifer seemed to be overlooked since joining his home town club in the summer and is excited at the prospect of gaining some more regular ice time in a Capitals jersey.

He continued: “I did struggle with ice time before (as a Flyers player), I don’t know why. It’s going to be great to get a chance to play. I’ll hopefully score some points and contribute to the team.”