Edinburgh Capitals eye bounce back as double-header provides opportunity
Edinburgh Capitals take to the rink this weekend in a double-header.
The Edinburgh Capitals will look to bounce back from their first loss of the season in a blockbuster double header this weekend.
After falling 4-3 to the Dundee Rockets, the Capitals will once again have home ice, facing the Aberdeen Lynx this Saturday. The following day, the Caps will have an opportunity to close out the first round of the Scottish Cup away to Solway. The Caps loss last weekend came to their biggest championship rival and was a close-fought battle reminiscent of the team's bouts from last season.
Head coach Steven Lynch said: “There’s nothing between the teams, we proved that last year with the way the games went over the seven times we’ve played them. We’re pretty disappointed.”
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Though being outshot by the Rockets, the Capitals controlled much of the game and were leading or level, until the end of the third period. The Caps chances often went unfinished, leaving several potential goals on the doorstep.
Lynch said: “I thought we maybe had the better chances on the night. I think the one thing that we maybe lacked a little bit was our decision making was not where it should have been in the offensive zone. But, I can’t fault the effort, I think on another night we maybe would have won the game.”
The Caps must move on despite missing out on an important win to prepare to face an Aberdeen team that has seemingly found their stride after a crushing 10-1 defeat at the hands of the Capitals earlier this year.
Lynch said: “They beat Paisley at home and went down and beat Kirkcaldy on Sunday night. They’ve had a few adjustments to make by losing a few guys and bringing in some younger players which takes a bit of time. But, if last weekend's results are anything to go by, they're on the turn by the sound of things.”
Despite the scoreline last time out, the Capitals won’t take this game lightly. Other than the Dundee Rockets, up until last season the Lynx famously had the Caps number, defeating them in Aberdeen to take the league title for themselves a few seasons ago.
While the Caps have progressed much in the time since them, far surpassing the Lynx in wins, they know that they aren’t a team to be taken lightly. Lynch said: “We have to come ready to play, if we do we should be ok, we shouldn’t have too many problems. But if we come out with the mindset that, oh, we beat them comfortably up there three or four weeks ago, it’s going to be easy again, it’s probably not going to be the case.”
With a tough night ahead on Saturday, the Caps will also have their Scottish Cup match to worry about in Dumfries on Sunday. Despite leading the series 6-0, the Sharks took the Rockets to a shootout two weeks ago, so the Capitals will certainly need to come ready to play.
Lynch said: “We should see out the tie, but again, you just never know. We’ve got to come out and put on a work ethic and put on a good performance and make sure we don’t slip up.”