Elite Ice Hockey League

BRAEHEAD CLAN 5

EDINBURGH CAPITALS 3

DETERMINED Clan ended a run of four straight losses with a 5-3 win over Edinburgh Capitals in the Gardiner Conference at Braehead on Saturday.

The hosts struck first to give themselves a good start as Brendan Brooks flicked the puck back for Ville Hämäláinen to poke it home.

Further chances came as Troon's Jordan Buesa tried one on Caps goalie Pavel Shegalo, as did Craig Peacock, with both efforts saved.

A second one for the Clan eventually came as Peacock's shot from the inside right was diverted home by Brooks and John Tripp's men were two up.

Ryan Nie down the other end had to contend with one or two efforts, from Mike Cazzola and Pavel Vorobyev, but kept his goal unblemished after 20 minutes.

Edinburgh got themselves on the scoresheet minutes after the restart as Dillon Lawrence finished a low effort to pull them to within one.

Clan regained the two-goal lead soon after when Jacob Doty found himself through on Shegalo, moved his body and finished his shot low.

Brooks was unlucky with a chance to make it four when his effort struck the far post of the Caps goal.

However that goal came at the end of the middle period with a well-taken individual effort by Christoffer Bjorklund to make life comfortable for the home side.

Edinburgh clawed their way back into the game as they took advantage of penalties to pull themselves back from 4-1 to 4-3 with ten minutes to go.

Marek Tvrdon and Sergei Banashkov gave the visitors some hope as the Caps suddenly found themselves back in the game.

But an empty net powerplay goal from Brooks late on sealed the points for the home side in front of a near 3,000 crowd.

The Clan welcome the Nottingham Panthers to Braehead Arena on Wednesday (7.30pm face-off).