Lightning bag four more points in late title charge
Bees and Flames seen off by Milton Keynes
If Peterborough Phantoms emerge as the eventual English Premier League champions then they will have to battle all the way as fierce rivals Milton Keynes Lightning are making a determined late charge for the title.
Lightning overcame the major hurdles of Bracknell Bees and Guildford Flames at the weekend with 4-1 and 4-2 victories to stay one point behind Phantoms who have one game in hand. Flames, having also lost on penalties to Wightlink Raiders on Saturday, appear to be slipping off the pace and are now four points behind Milton Keynes.
Bees – missing key Brit Joe Greener and import Andrius Kaminskas – never really looked like winning after Andre Smulter stunned them with a shot high into the net on 6mins 57secs.
The visiting forwards struggled to get anywhere near the Lightning goal in the first session and their cause wasn't helped when Adam Greener tussled with James Archer – earning an extra two minutes in the sin bin for his troubles.
Although Lightning did not score on the powerplay they quickly did once back at full strength with Gary Clarke setting up the move which saw Lukas Zatopek firted in, only for the puck to rebound to Joakim Wiklander to finish off on 9mins 59secs.
The score could have been 3-0 at the first interval had Chris McEwen's long blast not hit the crossbar with about 4mins 15secs remaining. Never the less Bees were heavily outshot 24-5 as Lightning came at them in waves.
To their credit it was a revitalised Bees that took the ice for the second period and they had the better of the shots on goal, just – 15-14. But still they could not break down a resilient Lightning back line in which Ross Green replacing the injured Greg Randall.
With a 2-0 lead going into the third the game was still anybody's to win – provided Bees could find another gear. However they were unable to do so and their situation became worse when Joe Baird was called for roughing on Wiklander.
From the resulting powerplay Matt Towalski found a gap to the left of netminder Tom Anetts to make it 3-0 at 42mins 16secs.
The three goal advantage did not last long though as Baird's powerblast from distance beat goalie Barry Hollyhead to make it 3-1 at 43mins 4secs.
Once more the next goal was not long in coming – this time Clarke shot through Annetts' legs from Adam Carr's set up at 44mins 33secs.
That proved to be the final goal of the game although Peter Jasik twice forced good saves from Hollyhead in the dying minutes and Andy Hemmings' shot hit the post.
The following night Clarke was the hat-trick hero at The Spectrum Centre as Lightning severely dented Flames hopes of the title.
Wiklander was the provider as Clarke bagged the first of his goals at 12mins 5secs – the only goal of the period and indeed the second session as well as the hosts just could not break the the visitors' defence down.
Flames task became even tougher when Clarke shocked Joe Watkins with an unasisted goal just 36 seconds into the third period.
It was not until the final quarter of an hour that Flames were able to mount an attack which saw Hollyhead beaten by Lukas Smital, from Vinny Zavoral's pass on 47mins 18secs.
But the two goal gaps was re-established when Smulter was supplied by Lukas Zatopek for the side's third goal on the powerplay at 51mins 10secs.
However both sets of fans were left on the edge of their sets when Milos Melicherik again reduced the gap to one goal on 53mins 51secs.
A tense final six minutes ensued with Flames calling a time out with about a minute to go and withdrawing goalie Watkins for the extra skater.
The gamble backfired on them though when Clarke broke to fire into an empty net at 59mins 54secs to seal a 4-2 win for Lightning.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
