Braehead Clan slump continues as Dundee enjoy good weekend

Head coach Ryan Finnerty admits he is concerned by the amount of goals Braehead Clan are leaking.

Saturday's 9-8 penalty shots loss to Sheffield Steelers was followed by a 6-3 defeat at Coventry Blaze as Clan now have only one win in their last six.

But Finnerty revealed his biggest disappointment was the absence of fight from his players in Coventry.

He said: "It's been a weird weekend where we scored 11 goals but conceded 17 and it's tough to analyse a situation where you're scoring but leaking them at the other end.

"It's a major concern and the most disappointing thing was the lack of reaction we got in Sunday's game after the way we lost on Saturday.

"The compete level wasn't there and we're getting outworked in the opening minutes of games and we're taking our time to get going."

An incredible game played out on Saturday in Glasgow as the league champions came from 8-5 behind to win.

Goals and chances rained at both ends until Stefan Meyer's double in the third looked like being decisive.

However, Steelers clawed their way back through Tyler Mosienko, Robert Dowd and Matthieu Roy, taking the match to overtime then penalty shots, where Chris Lawrence nabbed the winner.

On Sunday, a bruised Braehead made the trip to the Skydome and their fortunes did not improve.

Jim Jorgensen and Brett Robinson opened the scoring before Alex Leavitt and Thomas Nesbitt levelled but Robinson's second and one from Michael Quesnele made it 4-2.

Jordan Pietrus and Chris Bruton scored one apiece for either team before Jorgensen rounded things off to clinch the points for Coventry in a sobering weekend for the Clan.

Fife began the weekend with a visit by Manchester Storm, with the league new boys plundering the points to inflict the Flyers' third defeat in their last six in Kirkcaldy.

Patrick Cullen opened the scoring in the first period for the home side but Storm hit back strongly.

Second period strikes by Ricards Birzinsh and Matt Paton turned the game around, with another by Matt Caria to put the icing on the cake.

Flyers then went to Edinburgh Capitals on Sunday for another of their excellent Forth derbies and were catching Riley Emmerson's men in a disappointing week.

For the Caps, they came into the game after losing 6-3 at Belfast Giants on Thursday then went down in overtime to Dundee Stars on Saturday, losing 3-2 in the extra period.

Sam McCluskey's first period opener for the Stars was cancelled out by Caps' Taylor Dickin, before team-mate David Rutherford put the visitors 2-1 ahead in the third.

Their lead lasted a matter of seconds as David Turon's leveller took the game into overtime, where Jason Gray struck to take the win for Dundee.

So, when the Capitals hosted the Flyers at Murrayfield on Sunday they made it seven home wins in a row in a 4-2 win that caused some late nerves.

Ryan Hayes and Craig McCallum were both on target in the first period as the Caps caught their rivals out early before David Rutherford added a third in the middle session.

Michael Dorr pulled one back in the third before Patrick Cullen set up a grandstand finish with a second 45 minutes from time but Hayes killed them off with an empty netter to seal the points.

As for Dundee, they followed up Saturday's win over Edinburgh with a trip to Belfast Giants in the Challenge Cup and, after being 2-0 down, prevailed 3-2 after penalty shots.

Stars' backup netminder Craig Holland was the hero as his penalty shot save from Mike Forney teed up Lou Dickenson to seal the win.

Mike Radja and Derrick Walser put the Giants two up in the first period, but the Stars fought back through Bobby Chaumont and Justin Faryna strikes to take the game to overtime then penalty shots.

Then Holland, who replaced Vlastomil Lakosil halfway through the game, shone in the sudden death situation, making three saves before Dickenson struck.

Results

Thursday

Belfast Giants 6-3 Edinburgh Capitals

Saturday

Braehead Clan 8-9 Sheffield Steelers (PS)

Dundee Stars 3-2 Edinburgh Capitals (OT)

Fife Flyers 1-3 Manchester Storm

Sunday

Belfast Giants 2-3 Dundee Stars (PS, Challenge Cup)

Coventry Blaze 6-3 Braehead Clan

Edinburgh Capitals 4-2 Fife Flyers