Once again short-benched due to a combination of injury and work commitments, Hull more than held their own against their hosts, deservedly going in level at the first interval. But four unanswered second-period strikes from fifth-placed Braehead put the game beyond the visitors, who were further hindered when defenceman Jozef Sladok was ejected following a brawl with opposing player-coach Bruce Richardson in the 28th minute. By that point, Hull were already three goals adrift, the impressive Jon Landry scoring for the home side on the powerplay at 21.41 for the first of three goals in as many minutes. It became 2-0 when Bobby Chaumont pounced a minute later before Brendan Cook added another at 24.22. Cook scored again midway through the game and completed his hat-trick on the powerplay just 22 seconds into the final period. It got worse for Hull when Vince Connon made it 6-0 at 51.25 before captain Kurtis Dulle grabbed a deserved consolation by slotting in his 12th goal of the season at 55.37. The result saw the six-game series between the two sides finish level, with Cloutier happy with thw workrate put in by a line-up missing Craig Mitchell and Matti Uusivirta through injury and Aivars Gaisins and Ryan Lake due to work commitments. “We played a great first period and kept it simple,” said Cloutier. “We were also doing a great job on the powerplay at the start of the second until Landry scored and then the wheels fell off. “We then lost Slads (Jozef Sladok) and Silver (forward Jason Silverthorn) had to play most of the game on ‘D’. We were only playing two lines but we kept going and got the goal at the end. “We will now have Wednesday off and get back to work on Thursday and prepare for this weekend’s home games before the play-offs.” Hull now face Edinburgh Capitals and Nottingham Panthers in a home double header this weekend, ending a regular season campaign which will be regarded by many as satisfactory given the off-ice troubles endured shortly before the start of the season. Preparations will then begin for the play-offs, although the identity of who the Stingrays will face in the first round of the post-season is not likely to be known until Sunday night once the three-way battle for the regular season title between Sheffield Steelers, Cardiff Devils and Belfast Giants is finally decided.
