SENSATIONAL Simon Lambert helped lift Edinburgh Capitals off the bottom of the Elite League table with a little help from a team-mate.
The 26-year-old sniper scored game-winning penalty shots on successive nights as under-strength Capitals secured maximum points from back-to-back games.
Their 6-5 victory at reigning league champions Sheffield Steelers was followed by a 3-2 home
win over basement rivals Hull Stingrays.
And Quebec-born Lambert revealed: "I took a tip from Cody."
Hot-stop Cody Rudkowsky, who was outstanding in both games, had a word in Lambert's ear after the lively forward missed the first two of his three penalty shots at Sheffield.
The third hit the back of the net to send the travelling fans wild and quicksilver Lambert said: "It was a great tip."
He declined to go into details to keep things secret but it worked and set Capitals up for tomorrow's clash with Sheffield.
This game is in the Challenge Cup where Edinburgh prop up Group A with two points from one win and three defeats.
Mathematically, the Murrayfield men still have a chance and they are up for it in a bid to keep confidence high ahead of Wednesday's league clash in Belfast with the Giants.
Capitals have seven points from their six league games having won three and lost three and they are now off the bottom of the table for the first time since September 27.
What's more, they still have five games in hand over rock-bottom Hull, who have lost their last six games and have only won one of their last 13.
Lambert's ice-cool head was needed as Capitals lost a two-goal lead last night and the player said: "We needed to get the job done and scoring from a penalty shot is a challenge.
"I knew that all my team-mates were behind me and pressure gets me going." The former East Coast Hockey league star took the first of Edinburgh's allotted penalty shots last night and buried the puck low behind Tommy Sandahl.
Nobody else counted and Lambert admitted: "I missed with my first two penalty shots at Sheffield and I had a word with Cody.
"He told me what a goaltender was thinking and I took his advice. It worked so I stuck to the plan against Hull.
"That went in as well and those two goals were great for me and the guys.
"We've been playing well and needed to get some points on the board. Four points from the weekend is great and wins bring confidence."
And the popular player added: "We've got Sheffield here tomorrow and we must keep this run going. We'll rest today and get into gear for the match.
"We've been here for two months and the guys know each other. We have a lot more confidence.
"Recently, we've had guys sick and some injuries and that's been tough, but we've not got Jeff (Hutchins) in now and we've created a big line in Jeff, Owen (Fussey) and myself.
"It's up to us to score goals and that's a challenge. I like a challenge."
Lambert looked back at the weekend and added: "Going into Sheffield was a big deal for us. They are the champions but we went 2-0 ahead. They came back at us but the guys showed great character to hang in and get a result."
It needed real determination as Capitals lost defencemen Kyle Horne with concussion in the second period and Michael Benyon with an undisclosed lower body injury.
Lambert had opened Capitals' account in the 11th minute and Benyon made it 2-0 in the 26th.
Rod Sarich scored Sheffield's opener in the 29th minute and Doug Sheppard tied the game seconds later.
Sarich's second put the home team ahead in the 33rd minute but Benyon levelled with 39 seconds left of the period.
Sheffield then made it 4-3 with a goal from Joey Talbot at 41 min 37 seconds before skipper Martin Cingel levelled again two minutes later.
Capitals went ahead when defenceman Ben O'Connor scored with less than 12 minutes remaining but their joy was short-lived as Matt Hubbauer made it 5-5 to set up sudden-death overtime then penalty shots.
Last night, Capitals also let slip a 2-0 lead. Owen Fussey broke the deadlock on the power play after good work from Cingel and Benyon in the 25th minute and the fired-up home side went further ahead when new signing Hutchins netted just over three minutes later with Chris Allen and Fussey involved in the build-up.
Back came injury-hit Hull and George Halkidis scored with two minutes left of the middle session and Konstantin Kalmikov levelled with ten minutes to go.
