Edinburgh 1, Braehead Clan 6: Capitals coach can't fault players

Great Britain U-18 internationalist, Caly Robertson, is closely marked by Braeheads Cameron Burt. Pic: Ian Coyle

The latest loss makes it ten without victory but, after a run of significantly heavy defeats recently, Edinburgh made a game of it against their play-off chasing rivals from  Glasgow, despite shipping six goals in the end.

But it didn’t stop D’Orazio accentuating the positives from the game with one weekend left of the Elite League season and he even paid tribute to Capitals netminder Jordan McLaughlin, who scooped the man-of-the-match prize post game.

“I was pleased with the performance the guys put in and it’s been better than what we’ve seen recently,” he said. “Getting one more win is not something I’ve put too much emphasis on, but more what we put in and I was glad to see that.

“The third period didn’t go the way we wanted it and losing Dylan Anderson was a blow for us through injury. After having a couple of days off, I felt we were much fresher going into this one after the stretch we’ve been on recently.

“We had some good offensive zone time and we had our chances, but didn’t take them unfortunately.

“I definitely feel we could have got more than the one we did, but their goalie played well and it could have gone for us another day.

“But I felt Jordan McLaughlin had one of his best games for the team tonight. He was solid and made plenty of good saves for us, but we failed him by not scoring enough down the other end and he kept us in it at times.”

It was “Pride Night” at Murrayfield in support of the LGBT community and after recent results, Edinburgh can certainly take a lot of it themselves from this display, even if the final score again looked a tad one-sided.

The visitors were in front after four minutes when Craig Peacock struck on the powerplay, finishing off a rebound from Jacob Doty to give them an early advantage, and there were fears another heavy scoreline was in the offing.

Edinburgh looked to get one back shortly after as Mike Cazzola forced a turnover and put himself on a shorthanded breakaway, burst into the opposing defensive zone, but Clan goalie Ryan Nie was more than equal to it.

Those weren’t helped when Doty added Clan’s second when Edinburgh failed to properly clear their lines, allowing the Braehead forward to go one-on-one with Capitals goalie McLaughlin and add a second.

The Capitals managed to get one in reply when Ainars Podzins finished in front of Clan goalie Ryan Nie, but Braehead added their third when Ville Hämäläinen took a shot on the turn to beat McLaughlin from close range.

Caps felt they were still in it by the start of the third period, with a gap of only two goals knowing one might swing momentum their way. However, Adam Brace wasn’t interested in that when he fired past McLaughlin to open Clan’s lead to three within the opening minute of the restart.

They added a fifth through Brendan Brooks, who converted Michal Gutwald’s well-struck pass, and Brace completed a good night’s work from Braehead Clan’s point of view with his second of the game.

With two games left of the regular season this week and what looks like going to be another summer of rebuilding for the Capitals, D’Orazio admits there have been discussions with general manager Scott Neil, but plans to carefully consider his next move.

He added: “Scott and I have been talking a little bit, not about anything in particular, but throwing some things around. I think once the season’s over next week, I plan to take a couple of weeks off and start with a fresh head and see where it goes from there.

“I’m also weighing up options elsewhere too so it’s going to be an exciting and I want to make the best decision I can for me, my girlfriend and my family looking ahead.”