Capitals 1, Nottingham 10: Panthers walk all over Edinburgh

Edinburgh Capitals need to take good hard look at themselves both on and off the ice following a terrible performance in tonight's 10'“1 home defeat by Nottingham Panthers.
Sergei Banashkof tries to squeeze the puck past the Nottingham keeper Patrick Galbraith. Pic: Ian CoyleSergei Banashkof tries to squeeze the puck past the Nottingham keeper Patrick Galbraith. Pic: Ian Coyle
Sergei Banashkof tries to squeeze the puck past the Nottingham keeper Patrick Galbraith. Pic: Ian Coyle

Player-coach Michael D’Orazio did not play after breaking a skate in practice because the club failed to order him a new pair in time for the game – another embarrassing off-ice blunder from Edinburgh. And with the Nottingham fans, who had watched their team play three games in as many nights in a Scottish triple header, outnumbering the home support, it’s clear Capitals ownership’s policy of radio silence since going into liquidation last November is turning fans away from the club.

D’Orazio refused to comment when questioned about his missing equipment, however, he agreed this was his team’s most disappointing performance since he took over coaching duties from Dmitri Khristich in December.

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The game was over after just 20 minutes, Edinburgh losing the opening period 5-0, Jeff Brown (2), Alexander Mokshantsev, Eric Lindhagen and Mark Derlago with the goals for Panthers.

D’Orazio said: “The first period we were just awful, we actually played with them in the second period apart from the last two minutes, and the third period we were disappointing again.

“We were moving our feet, so in that respect we worked hard but we weren’t working smart. Working hard is a lot different to working smart. When you do that you make sure you’re on the right side of the puck defensively. We were puck watching a lot tonight and letting things come to us instead of trying to dictate the play. We were not anticipating and we were a step behind, they walked all over us from start to finish.”

Following on from last week’s 10-2 defeat against Cardiff Devils that’s 20 goals conceded in just two games since star net-minder Tyler Beskorowany went down with a knee injury. It was a night to forget for everyone at the club including teenage net-minder Jordan McLaughlin, who will no doubt bounce back with a better performance next time out, although Igor Valeyev, who was moved back to an unfamiliar defensive role after the first period, looked comfortable and was Edinburgh’s best player.

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D’Orazio continued: “We were trying to cheat a bit offensively and they made us pay, we didn’t help Jordan very much but he’s got to realise he needs to make some of those saves as well. He needs to take some accountability – we all do.

“We moved Igor into defence after the first period because we were just making too many mistakes back there. He’s an experienced player who’s played on defence before, he added a bit of a calming presence and I thought he did pretty well and it’s something I’ll consider for future games.

“Right now we’re just going through the motions and it’s very frustrating.

“In hockey you need to have a short memory. We’ll have tomorrow off and then a hard practice on Tuesday before our next match against Fife on Wednesday.”

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The second period was a more even affair, with both sides firing eight shots on goal apiece, however, Edinburgh fell apart once more conceding three almost identical goals in the final 90 seconds of the period, Luke Pither, Evan Mosey and Mike Vaskivuo doing the damage. It was a great display of finishing, but Caps made it all too easy with the defence posting missing.

The goals were going in at such a rate the scoreboard couldn’t keep up and for a time showed 6-0 to the visitors, when eight had been scored.

Nottingham wasted no time in the third period, Josh Tetlow scoring from inside his own half to make it 9-0 within a minute of the restart. GB international forward Robert Lachowicz added the tenth in the 48th minute. Ainars Podzins with a deflected effort with nine minutes to play was scant consolation in what rounded off a night of misery for the Murrayfield men.