Lightning move clear in third spot
Clarke bags five of 15 goal weekend haul
MILTON Keynes Lightning moved into a clear third spot in the English Premier League after two fine wins at the weekend.
They demolished Telford Tigers 8-2 in Shropshire on Saturday after taking a 4-0 lead inside and the first quarter of an hour with Gary Clarke returning to his best with four goals at his home town rink.
And on Sunday Lightning gained sweet revenge on Wightlink Raiders with a well earned 7-4 win – two weeks after the islanders defeated them 3-2 with a stiflingly defensive display.
This time Lightning had all the answers to such tactics with a number of defence splitting passes which left goalie Mike Brabon and later his replacement, Toby Cooley – exposed on numerous occasions.
Lightning were first off the mark with Clarke sending Andre Smulter away for the first goal on 9mins 54secs before Wightlink levelled through Adam Brittle at 14mins 19secs and then forged ahead with a Gareth Endicott strike on 17mins 57secs.
Endicott was penalised for hooking with 15 seconds of the first period remaining and that let Clarke in for a powerplay equaliser with just .1 of a second left on the session.
From then on there was no way back for Wightlink and it was nearly all one way traffic in the second period – Lightning launching wave after wave of attacks and outshooting the visitors 17-4.
After 24 minutes Clarke was desperately unlucky on the break when Brabon just managed, at full stretch, to get a glove to his shot and then Smulter found a way through but couldn't beat the goalie while Ales Parez was serving a two minute elbows call.
With 20 seconds left on the Wightlink powerplay Michael Wales was sent away but again it was Brabon who stopped him scoring.
There was an anxious moment for Lightning when Andrew Robinson had a chance with goalie Barry Hollyhead stranded having made an earlier block but it came to nothing.
The only goal of the period came on 37mins 40secs as Clarke threaded the puck through the Wightlink defence for Smulter and he set up Nick Poole to score inside the left pipe.
Lightning tightened their grip on the game just 2mins 9secs into the third period when Chris McEwen released a superb blueline thunderbolt which crashed into the back of the net.
However Wightlink were not quite finished and Brittle was able to find a way through for their third goal on 48mins 36secs.
James Archer then hit the pipework for the second time in a few minutes before Lukas Zatopek was the supplier for Smulter to score form close range at 50mins 26secs.
Archer finally got reward for his efforts just under a minute later at 51mins 21secs when he scored on his own shot which rebounded off Brabon.
That was the last action for Brabon who was given a ten minute misconduct penalty as he stormed off to the dressing room – Cooley taking his place.
Danny Hughes got Wightlink's fourth from the blueline in a momentary lapse by Lightning at 54mins 55secs but Adam Carr finally finished the visitors off as he crashed home the puck while driving to the net at 57mins 29secs.
A day earlier Lightning left Telford with maximum points after scoring inside the first two minutes as Michael Wales netted at 1min 59secs.
Wales' usual line mate Grant McPherson then stunned Tigers with a second goal at 6mins 11secs before the hosts' Alex Symonds was caught holding at 10mins 14secs. It took Lightning just five seconds to score on the powerplay with Poole the provider for Clarke to bag the first of a straight hat-trick.
While Tigers were still reeling from that goal Clarke was back for more with the fourth goal on 13mins 32secs – this time short-handed at after Wales was penalised for hooking.
Tigers replaced goalie Davey Lawrence with Daniel Heslop and made a better start to the second session as Tom Carlon beat Hollyhead for their first goal at 22mins 15secs.
But any hope of a comeback evaporated with Clarke making Telford pay for a slashing penalty on goalie Daniel Heslop – registering on the powerplay at 27mins 32secs.
The only other goal for Telford came on 38mins 56secs through Daniel Mackriel to make it 5-2 at the second interval.
The third period belonged to Lightning with McEwen delivering what was effectively the killer blow as goal number six went in at 47mins 9secs.
Two further strikes from Archer and Clarke at 53mins 15secs and 54mins 3secs made it 8-2 by the final buzzer as Lightning deservedly took the points.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
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