Flames hit Clan for seven

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames climbed into a pack of four teams on 12 points with a commanding 7-2 home win over Glasgow Clan on Wednesday night.

Under six minutes had been played when the Flames took the lead - Peter Crinella drifted unmarked into the slot despite five Clan defenseman back, and fired high past Jake Kielly to opening the scoring at 5:34. 24 seconds later, a Matt Alvaro shot was saved but only so far as allowing Marcus Tesink a simple finish into the empty net to double the home side's lead. Only a Kielly blocker save prevented the Flames from going further ahead The Clan have the league's hottest powerplay and it took only 13 seconds to get to work with Mike Pelech jamming home a rebound from a smart Gary Haden shot with a little over 13 minutes played, but Steven McParland came back to haunt his former team by putting the Flames back two ahead at 15:21 after excellent work by Sam Talbot.

Eamon McAdam was called into action early in period two with a save that also got some help from the crossbar as the Clan looked for a way back into things. However, a defensive error in Glasgow's own end threw the puck out to Peter Crinella to score from the slot and make it 4-1 at 27:18. Ryan Hughes wristed home just under seven minutes before the buzzer to put Guildford 5-1 ahead, although Reece Kelly poked a loose puck behind McAdam over the line to pull one back for the Clan before the second period was out.

Any hopes the Clan had of a final period fightback were all-but extinguished when Lewis Hook was set free down the middle to finish past Kielly 38 seconds into the third. Ryan Hughes added his second of the night some six minutes later with a shot that Kielly inadvertently deflected over his glove with his stick, although neither he nor Crinella could find the hat trick before time ran out.