Edinburgh Capitals 2 Newcastle Vipers 3 (pens)

Mar 1 2010 by Peter Adams, The Journal

FORWARD Brent Hughes was the Vipers’ saviour after they threw away a 2-1 lead late in the game.

Victory was in the Vipers’ grasp when an illegal equipment penalty on Mark Smith, who had two sticks in his possession when the puck came his way, gave the Vipers a late powerplay.

But set up by ex-Viper Jeff Hutchins, Dan Welch hit home a shorthanded marker to delay the Vipers’ much-needed victory after suffering Friday (6-3 away) and Saturday (4-2 home) defeats by the Sheffield Steelers, and send the tie into sudden-death overtime.

After an inconclusive five minutes of four on four play, Hughes slotted home the first penalty shot past netminder Cody Rudkowsky with the remaining five penalty takers all failing. It was the second time Hughes has won a match for the Vipers at the penalty shot stage since he joined the club last month.

The match got off to an explosive start with both netminders being beaten inside the opening three minutes. In the first assault on the Caps, Jason Tejchma struck his 27th league goal of the season to give the Vipers a second-minute lead.

Later given the Vipers’ man of the match award, netminder Michel Robinson was then beaten a minute and 37 seconds later by the Caps leading goal and points scorer Owen Fussey.

What looked for so long like it was going to be the decisive goal of the game came on 10 minutes when the Vipers’ leading points scorer, Matic Kralj, ended a two-game pointless streak with his 24th goal in 49 league games.

In the second minute of Saturday night’s Bash At The Bay game against the Steelers, Vipers were trailing to a Mark Hubbauer goal and the lead was doubled on 12 minutes thanks to Jeff Legue.

Three minutes into the middle period the Vipers pulled one back, Jason Tejchma shooting high into the net at the near post, and with six minutes of the period remaining, Ben Campbell equalised when he followed up a rebound.

However, the Vipers conceded a third on 46 minutes, Jonathan Zion from close range, and with five seconds left Hubbauer hit his second of the night.

SUNDAY

CAPITALS: Fussey and Welch 1+0, Hutchns, Lambert, Rudkowsky and Smith 0+1.

Vipers: Kralj and Tejchma 1+0, Campbell, Holland, Hughes and Robinson 0+1.

SATURDAY

VIPERS: Campbell and Tejchma 1+1, Berry and Domish 0+1.

STEELERS: Hubbauer 2+0, Legue and Zion 1+0, Dowd, Phillips, Sheppard and Sgroi 0+1.