Lightning give up 3-1 lead to lose at Swindon
Lightning surrendered a 3-1 lead with less than eight minutes remaining to lose their final English Premier League Knock-out Cup group game at Swindon Wildcats 4-3.
In a game which was close fought in the opening half an hour neither side could make a breakthrough until Ales Parez set up Gary Clarke for the opener on the powerplay after 28mins 20secs – Matty Davies in the sin bin at the time for hooking.
But within 13 seconds they had let Swindon back into the game when Davies, fresh from the penalty box, took Joel Petkoff's pass to beat goalie Barry Hollyhead.
Lightning went into the second break with a one goal advantage though as Matt Towalski's pass was converted by Grant McPherson at 38mins 4secs.
The lead was further extended on 49mins 16secs when Toni Alasaarela and Clarke combined – the British player putting the puck past netminder Nathan Craze.
When Mikko Skinnari was called for interference Swindon were able to take full advantage thanks to a Petkoff shot which beat Hollyhead.
And then within eight seconds of a penalty call on Parez for a high stick they had the puck in the back of the net again. This time the goal scoring credit went to Lee Richardson from Petkoff's set up.
The killer blow came with exactly two minutes remaining and once more it was that man Petkoff who did the damage to make it 4-3 to Swindon.
Lightning pulled Hollyhead for the extra skater with 56 seconds remaining but they were unable to make it count and so went down narrowly.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
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