The win saw Lightning maintain their position at the top of their group with three matches remaining, one of which is at home to Chelmsford next Saturday.

Former Lightning player Simon Howard, now Chieftains coach, made a rare appearance for his side in place of the injured Michael Timms.

After a first period which ended goal-less Chieftains then lost Scott McKenzie with a dislocated shoulder before Lightning finally got the break-through when Adam Carr and Ross Bowers helped set up Nick Poole for the opening goal at 38mins 3secs.

The third period began with high drama as Chieftains' Danny Cox was judged by referee Dave Cloutman to have covered his hand with the puck in his team's goal-mouth at the 42 minute mark. Hot shot Toni Alasaarela stepped up to take the penalty shot and planted the puck home past netminder Andy Moffat for a 2-0 lead.

Mikko Mattila gave the hosts' hope of getting something from the game with Jamie Randall the provider to make the score 2-1 at 54mins 27secs but that was as good as it got as Lightning maintained their lead to the buzzer.

Alasaarela was also the hero of the night the previous evening when he snatched an overtime goal to sink Bracknell Bees 3-2 at Planet Ice in the English Premier League.

Again the first period ended goal-less as both defences cancelled each other out despite Lightning out-shooting the visitors 19-8.

Lightning ran into penalty trouble early in the second period with Nick Poole (slashing), Chris McEwen and Ales Parez (both charging) all in the penalty box at the same time. And Bees were able to strike to take the lead as Adam Bicknell made the pass for Michal Kanka to beat goalie Barry Hollyhead on 24mins 17secs..

However the lead did not last long with Alasaarela the provider for Greg Randall to shoot home at 25mins 40secs.

The same player then put Lightning in front at 35mins 13secs with the assist this time going to Adam Carr.

But once more it did not take long for the sides to be level again as Sam Oakford found the net at 37mins 4secs.

As the countdown to the 60 minute buzzer approached neither side could find another goal although it was Lightning who held the advantage in terms of shots on goal – 17-12 in the last period.

With the teams reduced to four skaters each for overtime Lightning continued to put pressure on Bees goal firing in six shots without reply before Alasaarela sent home fans into raptures with the game winning goal. The victory put Lightning top of the league with two games in hand over the three teams below them.