Kalmikov double sets up Rays win

Rick Strachan saw the best and the worst from his side over the weekend

Hull Stingrays variable season continued with a win and loss over the weekend in a home double-header.

Rays took the scalps of the league leaders Belfast (5-4) on Sunday night after losing against Manchester (1-7) on Saturday.

Bemused coach Rick Strachan told BBC Radio Humberside: " We played horribly for 10 minutes against Manchester.

"For some reason we've got confidence against Belfast and we played well and we shot the puck and it went in."

The game against the team from Northern Ireland came after a 'behind closed doors' team meeting in the wake of the rout by Manchester.

Slava Koulikov, who was playing his first game for three months following a broken collar bone, scored an early goal to put Rays ahead against the Phoenix.

But inspired by player-coach Tony Hand, the visitors ran riot in the final period scoring five unanswered goals.

Just 24 hours later the Rays produced a contrasting display against Belfast after the boost of two early goals.

Matt Reynold's poked in the opener from close range and a rocket shot from Konstantin Kalmikov was too strong for the Giants netminder Stevie Lyle but before the first interval Colin Shields reduced the arrears with a well-placed slap shot.

A powerplay goal from Tyler Howells levelled the game at 2-2 in the middle period but Belfast were undone when the Stingrays scored three times in as many minutes at the start of the final stanza.

Pavel Gomenyuk put them back in front with a double powerplay goal and quickly followed by another from Jamie Thompson and when Kalmikov smashed in his second of the night, at 5-2 the points were in the bag for the Rays.

Howell's second and another score from Shields made for a tense finish but it was to little too late as far as Belfast were concerned.