Honours shared in Bees clashes
One win each for Lightning and Bracknell
A double strike from Andre Smulter was enough to edge Milton Keynes Lightning to an English Premier League victory in an entertaining, closely fought game with Bracknell Bees on Saturday.
But Lightning could not follow up the 2-1 success with a win in the return encounter at Bracknell on Sunday when Bees edged to a 3-2 victory despite Adam Carr firing the city side ahead in the fourth minute.
On Saturday Lightning could have taken the lead in the first minute but Gary Clarke's blast hit the right pipe and was cleared away to safety by Bees and it was the visitors who went ahead on 3mins 1sec through Jan Melichar.
Matt Foord out on the right fed Adam Bicknell in front of goal and his effort found its way to the onrushing Melcihar to plant in the back of the goal.
Lightning had a great chance to level as Smulter battled his way through but shot wide with only netminder Greg Rockman to beat in the eighth minute.
The hosts did get back in the game on 13mins 22secs when Nick Poole's behind the net pass to Clarke was fed to Smulter to finish off with Rockman caught out of position.
Milton Keynes started the second period defending a penalty on Lewis Christie, surviving the shorthanded spell with some ease.
Further penalties came and went for both sides with neither side able to break the other down and while Lightning outshot Bees too many efforts were straight at the goalie.
At the start of the third session it was Bees who were short-handed after a late second period call on Roman Kelner for a high stick on Greg Randall.
And it took Lightning just 27 seconds to find the net with Clarke and Nick Poole setting up Smulter for a blueline rocket shot when Rockman could not have seen until it was too late.
Midway through the period Rockman crashed into the boards after coming out of his goal and he played the rest of the match with obvious pain to his right leg. But his fellow Bees defencemen made a good job of protecting him, restricting Lightning's shots on goal.
However the visiting forwards were kept at bay by Lightning's hardworking backline as the home side held on for a 2-1 win.
At The Hive the next day Carr got Lightning off to a great start with a delayed penalty goal assisted by Chris McEwen and James Archer after 4mins 3secs in an evenly contested first period which saw ten shots apiece.
Lightning held onto the advantage until the midway point in the second period when Andrius Kaminskas got Bees back on terms before Kelner put the hosts in front for the first time at 37mins 44secs.
In the final minute or so of the period there was a confrontation between Lightning goalie Barry Hollyhead and a Bees player and in the ensuing melee Grant McPherson took on Bees' Ryan Watt. McPherson was taken to hospital with Watt thrown out of the game for his part in the battle.
That gave Lightning a five minute powerplay at the start of the third period and they took full advantage with Poole the provider for a Lukas Zatopek powerplay goal at 43mins 59secs.
However parity did not last long with Bees regaining the lead on 45mins 24secs thanks to a Peter Jasik goal assisted by Kelner and Melichar.
Late in the game Hollyhead was pulled in favour of the extra skater but it was to no avail as Bees registered a 3-2 win.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
