Edinburgh Capitals 1 Coors Belfast Giants 4

Posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

The Coors Belfast Giants made it back to back wins this weekend after deafting the Edinburgh Capitals 4-1 in their Challenge Cup game at Murrayfield on Sunday evening. Having edged the Cardiff Devils 5-3 on Saturday , the Giants took a trip across the Irish Sea for their second game in as many days.

Energised after a win over the Sheffield Steelers, the Edinburgh Capitals came out firing on all cylinders taking an early lead. With the Giants down to three men, Capitals coach Doug Christiansen sent Mark Hurtubise away and the forward laid the puck off to Rajcak who beat Stevie Lyle for the opening goal at 10:20.

Rajcak’s goal was to be the difference between the two teams until midway through the second period when speedy winger Paul Deniset forced a turnover at centre ice and tallyed a shorthanded marker by beating Pasi Raitenan on the resulting breakaway.

Seven minutes later the Coors Giants took hold of the lead when ‘Triple R’ Bobby Robins found the back of the net, bashing the puck home after a scramble in front of the Capitals goal.

The Giants proved to be too much for the Capitals in the final frame with their tiring legs being unable to keep up with the speedy Belfast side. Scottish forward Colin Shields took full advantage of this by skipping through the Edinburgh defence and roofing the puck on the backhand to give the Giants a 3-1 lead at 41:08.

Despite valiant efforts, the Capitals were unable to find a way past Stevie Lyle in the Giants goal and with 59 seconds remaining Bobby Robins put the game out of reach with his 7th point of the weekend, a top shelf wrist shot after a nice deke that fooled the Edinburgh netminder.

The Giants will now return home to focus on this weekend’s visit of Andre Payette and the Newcastle Vipers who have formed a bitter rivalry with the Coors Giants over the past two seasons. Be sure to get your tickets for what should be an exciting game by calling to Odyssey Arena box office on 9073 9074 or by logging onto www.ticketmaster.ie

Period Scores: 1-0, 0-2, 0-2
Penalty Mins: 12-18
Powerplay: Edi 1/7 – Bel 0/4
Shots On: Pasi Raitanen 34 – Stevie Lyle 29
Referee: Marco Coenen