Richard Hartman warning after Edinburgh Capitals' defeat

Edinburgh Capitals head coach Richard Hartmann has told his players to stay out of the penalty box after going down 2-1 to Belfast Giants on Sunday.

New signings Kyle Flemington and Joe Grimaldi were both handed major penalties for misconduct, with the latter ejected from the game in the third period.

But Hartmann was positive about the performance even if the final result did not go his team's way in the end.

"We have players with presence in the team this year and they need to play with their heads. They are physical and that's their nature, but we need them on the ice," he said.

"Taking penalties and sitting in the box kills the rest of the guys out there. I've no issue with the physicality, but it has to be done the right way.

"As for the game, we took a lot of positives from it, but we missed the quality in finishing. Those are the things we can work on before the next game."

After a robust start to the game from the home side, Belfast found the breakthrough as Kevin Saurette opened the scoring.

The Giants forward added a second early in the second period after a poor clearance, but Greg Collins' neat finish pulled one back for the home team.

Grimaldi was ejected late on for Edinburgh after getting into a skirmish with Saurette, but it added nothing further to final outcome.

For Belfast, it rounded off a terrific three-game weekend where they took five points out of a possible six.

They began on Friday at Dundee Stars and comfortably won 4-1 to get their title defence off to a flying start.

The Northern Irish side were three ahead through Ray Sawada, Craig Peacock and Darryl Lloyd before Brad Plumton pulled one back for the Stars.

But Evan Cheverie killed off the hopes of Jeff Hutchins' men with a late empty netter to clinch the first Elite League points of the new season.

Then it was on to Braehead Arena on Saturday, but they were squeezed out by Braehead Clan, who prevailed in penalty shots.

Cheverie nicked the puck in for the first before Sawada added a second with a shot into the roof of the net.

Braehead came back though as Neil Trimm scored to reduce the arrears, but Lee Esders rasped a cracker in from the blue line.

Derek Roehl added a third early in the final period, but Robby Sandrock's late leveller sent the game into overtime then penalty shots, where Derek Roehl scored the decisive goal.

Meanwhile, Roehl's former team, Fife Flyers, went down to Coventry Blaze both home and away in what was a poor start for the Kirkcaldy men.

Ex-Dundee Stars D-man Rory Rawlyk scored the winner in Fife to clinch a 1-0 win for the Blaze and two points on Saturday.

Their fortunes did not improve in the Skydome 24 hours later, as Todd Dutiaume's men returned to Scotland nursing a 4-2 defeat.

Mike Egener gave Blaze the lead before Jordan Fulton levelled early in the second period, but Kyle Bochak restored the advantage, only for Kyle Haines to cancel it out.

Ben Arnt put the Blaze 3-2 up in the third session with Russell Cowley adding an empty net goal late on to complete the victory.

Finally, Braehead Clan ended the weekend with full points, but Hull Stingrays made them work for it in a thrilling, yet nervy 8-6 win down in Humberside.

A Leigh Salters hat-trick and two from Neil Trimm proved crucial as Braehead Clan saw off Hull Stingrays, who battled back from three-goal deficits twice.

Chris Frank, Matt Haywood and Scott Pitt also got on the scoresheet for the Glasgow side, who now play seven further games on the road due to the unavailability of Braehead Arena.