Ice Hockey: Goal hero says Capitals must be very wary in derby

EDINBURGH CAPITALS matchwinner Nick Fanto believes tonight's televised clash with Dundee Stars will be just as tough as any of their recent games against high-flying Nottingham or Belfast.

Fanto scored a glory goal with 19 seconds remaining last Saturday to hand Capitals a memorable 5-4 victory over Nottingham Panthers.

It was the 24-year-old's second goal of the night and he followed the glory double with a goal and an assist in Sunday's disappointing defeat by the men from the Lace City.

The four-point haul took his total for the season to 20 gathered from eight goals and 12 assists. Fanto now sits in sixth place in the club's individual scoring charts. Typically, he praised his team-mates Chris St Jacques and Adam Taylor for the build-up play as he slotted that game-winning strike.

Capitals travel to the Dundee Ice Arena to face resurgent Dundee CCS Stars, who moved off the bottom of the Elite League with Sunday's come-from-behind 4-2 victory over Hull Stingrays.

That result snapped a run of three straight road defeats for the Tayside team.

It also halted Hull's four-game unbeaten run and the victory was achieved without influential defenceman Chris Zarb. He has a lower body injury but could be considered tonight.

Fanto, who hails from Dearborn, Michigan, and is a economics student at Heriot-Watt University, said: "Dundee are a good team. They are low in the league but they've played some of the top teams."

He is well aware of Dundee's capability, having played the Tayside team twice in the Challenge Cup. Edinburgh won 3-2 at Murryafield on September 19 and 3-1 in Dundee on October 9. "They'll come out firing and it is up to us to deliver," he added.

"It doesn't matter if it's a TV game or not. We'll have to play hard. We've got to do that every night. The fact that the game is on TV doesn't really put more pressure on the guys. Everybody has played on TV before."

Ninth-placed Dundee now have 11 points from 26 games, a record which includes five league wins, three points behind Capitals who have won six games and have a game in hand.

Stars have scored 75 goals - the third lowest total - and let in 130. Capitals have scored 88 and conceded 135 - the worst goals against record in the league despite having the highly-rated Scott Reid in goal.

On paper, there is not much between the teams, but it is what happens on the night which is crucial.

It's up-front where Capitals could be lacking.

The departure of Alex Kim is a blow, although the Californian-born player was ineffectual in Sunday's heavy defeat by Nottingham.

His mind was obviously elsewhere. Kim, however, was third in Edinburgh's points charts, with 36 gathered from 15 goals and 21 assists.

Ahead of him remain Adam Taylor with 43 points from 17 goals and 26 assists and leading the way is St Jacques with 44 points.

Contrast that with Dundee. Brent Hughes leads their charts with 36 points (12 goals and 24 assists) followed by player/coach Dan Ceman with 34 (16 goals and 18 assists) and Peter Cartwright with 31 (15 goals and 16 assists).

Capitals coach Scott Neill has promised to give David Lomas his chance. The hard-hitting player has iced on the third line so far and he could link with Jeff Hutchins and skipper Martin Cingel if things gel in training.

Dundee are in Edinburgh on Sunday and, sandwiched in between for Capitals, is a long trip to league pace-setters Belfast Giants. It's a gruelling three days and Fanto added: "Belfast are going well and we'll have to have our A game in place.

"Dundee are here on Sunday and we've got a heavy schedule. However, we've been getting some good results.

"On Saturday, we beat a really good team (Nottingham). It was good to score the winning goal, but my team-mates set it up and I just hit it.

"On Sunday, they came out flying and we couldn't get going. We didn't weather the storm. Nottingham were the better team and we made some mistakes, which cost us."

Capitals, however, have been picking up points recently from unexpected quarters. Two from four against Nottingham and three points from a possible four from their home, double-header with Belfast.

Fanto added: "We've taken five points from two top teams in recent weekends. We're playing well right now."