Russell praises players after Clan storm to victory over Lightning
GLASGOW Clan head coach Pete Russell heaped praise on his side after winning in some style with an 8-3 thrashing of Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday.
The Clan have been in excellent form recently, climbing to fifth in the Elite League table, but had suffered back-to-back defeats in their last two matches – losing 6-5 away to Coventry Blaze before being edged out 4-2 by league leaders Cardiff Devils on Saturday.
But Russell’s men came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday at Braehead with Matt Beca’s hat-trick setting the tone.
Beca got his first of the evening in the opening minutes after sweeping home Brendan Connolly’s lay-off.
Just over a minute later, Craig Peacock set Vaclav Stupka on one of his speedy adventures, with the Slovakian setting Peacock up to apply the finish.
MK managed to hit back as Tim Wallace squeezed the puck in at Joel Rumpel’s post, but Clan restored the two-goal lead as Rasmus Bjerrum set up Matt Haywood who finished well.
Haywood got his second and Glasgow’s fourth before Georg Golovkovs notched MK’s second on the powerplay shortly after.
Bjerrum got on the scoresheet himself when a rebound landed nicely for the Dane.
Beca’s shot from the centre into the top corner increased the lead to 6-2 and finally killed MK off completing his treble moments later.
Connolly added number eight for the Clan to finish the rout. The visitors did pull one back.
Russell said: “Our great start set the tone for sure. I think we’ve been playing well for a while now and when teams give us good chances, the guys are scoring.”
Clan are at home again this Saturday as they welcome Nottingham Panthers to Braehead. Faceoff 7pm.