After shooting down free spending Guildford Flames 7-0 on Saturday they had to wait until the third period before getting the first goal at Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday. But once they did there was little doubt about who was going to win as they went on to add two more without reply.

Saturday's demolition job on Flames saw Lightning cement their position at the top of their English Premier League Cup group while Sunday's victory puts the side joint second in the English Premier League behind Guildford with two games in hand.

Flames were missing key imports Lukas Smital and Vaclav Zavoral as well as a couple of their British players. But for a side with quality in abundance they could hardly use that as an excuse for failing to stem the Lightning charge which saw them, incredibly, 5-0 ahead at the first break.

The game was just 2mins 34secs old when, with Adam Radmall in the sin bin for tripping, Gary Clarke won the puck in the neutral zone and went all the way to back stick the puck past netminder Joe Watkins.

Toni Alasaarela, returning to the side after the birth of his son, then paired up with Clarke for the hosts' second goal on 5mins 46secs. The two went up centre ice with Alasaarela shooting and Watkins fumbling the puck as it went into the net over him.

Flames were clearly on the rocks – in particular the normally solid Watkins – but Lightning were in no mood to show mercy and they made it 3-0 after eight minutes on the powerplay when Ales Parez was the provider for Greg Randall who shot through Watkins' legs.

Three became four after 12mins 47secs when Alasaarela collected a Flames effort which rebounded off the boards behind the Lightning goal. He and Clarke skated the length of the ice and, with the Brit as decoy, Alasaarela fired high into the goal.

If Lightning fans could not believe what they were seeing their joy grew further when Ben Johnson was called for delaying the game and Alasaarela and Clarke paired up to provide Ales Parez with the pass to beat the goalie yet again.

Flames' Rick Plant had his side's first real testing effort two minutes from the break but in truth the game was already won and lost.

There was a moment of danger for Lightning in the 21st minute when goalie Barry Hollyhead was caught out of position as Josef Kohut shot but Mikko Skinnari blocked the effort.

Lightning survived a five on three shorthanded spell before Clarke passed in from the left hand side for Alasaarela to complete his hat-trick on 27mins 27secs.

By this stage Lightning were already confident of victory and they took the chance to give back-up netminder David Wride his debut, replacing Hollyhead just after the half way stage. Wride was to face just two shots in the second session and a further eight in the third.

Lightning's final goal came a minute or so later when Alasaarela took his tally to four, blasting home from the left hand side of goal at 33mins 30secs.

The final period was tame by comparison with Flames only threatening in the final five minutes – the most notable effort being Kohut's attempted breakaway pursued successfully by Randall.

The following day at Peterborough the city side were rewarded for their patience after two goal-less periods when Ross Bowers finally put Parez through to break the deadlock on 44mins 10secs.

Phantoms, playing their first game under new coach Phil David after the sacking of former Lightning captain Dwayne Newman last week, then went two goals behind when Matt Towalski supplied Michael Wales on 48mins 56secs.

In a desperate bid to get something out of the game Phantoms withdrew netminder Stephen Wall as the final minute approached but that only allowed Nick Poole to set up Bowers for an empty net goal at 59mins 31secs to seal the points.

Lightning v Guildford Statistics:

Lightning scorers: Toni Alasaarela 4+1; Gary Clarke 1+4; Ales Parez 1+1; Greg Randall 1+1; Mikko Skinnari 0+1.

Shots on goal: On Barry Hollyhead 16/0
On David Wride 10/0
On Joe Watkins 45/7

Peterborough v Lightning Statistics:

Lightning scorers: Ales Parez 1+1; Ross Bowers 1+1; Michael Wales 1+0; Matt Towalski 0+1; Nick Poole 0+1.

Shots on goal: On Barry Hollyhead 29/0
On Stephen Wall 36/3