Capitals show they have a real Sting in their tail

KYLE HORNE claimed his first double for Edinburgh Capitals last night and the Great Britain internationalist now believes the Murrayfield men can avoid a second straight wooden spoon.

The 26-year-old Kirkcaldy-based defenceman will be on duty again at Coventry Blaze on Wednesday as Capitals bid to build on back-to-back weekend wins over Hull Stingrays in the bmi Elite League.

Saturday night's 2-1 success was followed by last night's 7-0 victory and the man of the match believes the four-point haul proves Capitals can compete in the league if they are at something like full strength.

"The boys played really well on both nights," said Horne. "Last night was our first shutout of the season and on Saturday we were 2-0 ahead and we kept them at bay despite some late pressure and a controversial penalty shot.

"Coventry in midweek is a big test for us as they are still pushing for the title, but we'll go down there, give it our best shot and see what happens."

Midweek games are always tough for Capitals who could be minus several players because of work commitments but Horne said: "We earned four points at the weekend and now have a chance of finishing second bottom. That would be a real achievement for this club."

It was Horne who broke the deadlock after only four minutes last night on the power play with a slap shot from the top of the face-off circle which roared into the rigging, Peter Janik and Neil Hay supplied the assists.

Centre Andrej Rajcak then claimed No.2 in 15 minutes with a solid shot which Stingrays' netminder Tom Chamberlain was unable to hold. Rajcak pounced, after good work from Janik and Horne, to net on the power play.

The third came from Horne after the player switched quickly from left to right and Chamberlain was unable to move across his crease quickly enough. Horne made no mistake with skipper Martin Cingel and Dino Bauba involved in the build-up.

The fans didn't have to wait long for the fourth despite early pressure from Hull at the opening of the middle period. Edinburgh-born Hay fired goalwards and the puck slipped under Chamberlain's stick and into the net. Bauba and Horne were involved.

Then Hull came back and Great Britain netminder Stephen Murphy, who was ice cool in Hull, had came to the rescue with several fine stops to prevent the impetus being thrown away.

Nikolai Ladygin's shot from the blue line was stopped and then another strike from the same player parried low down. Then James Knight tested the Dundee-born netminder before Sergiy Rublivsky's goal-bound effort was held by Murphy.

Dru Burgess also had a golden chance to net as Murphy was flat out on the ice but the netminder came up trumps again before Patrik Luza, with assists from Mark Garside and Daniel McIntyre, netted the fifth with less than four minutes before the second break.

Capitals passed up several other chances to increase their advantage until Iain Bowie finished off a neat move involving stylish Rajcak and hard-working Cingel in the 51st minute.

And the home side completed their magnificent seven when Bauba netted just over a minute later on the power play with Matthew Craig and Janik setting up the chance.

• NEWCASTLE VIPERS' 3-1 home win over Manchester Phoenix, coached by Edinburgh-born Tony Hand, confirmed that Edinburgh Capitals and Hull Stingrays cannot make the play-offs.