Sheffield for Lightning in play-offs
City team end as league runners-up
Milton Keynes Lightning will face Sheffield Scimitars in the quarter finals of the play-offs after finishing the league season on a high with victories over champions Peterborough Phantoms and Wightlink Raiders.
Lightning will go to Sheffield on Saturday with the return game of the two-legged encounter at Planet Ice on Sunday at 6pm.
Sunday saw Andre Smulter and Gary Clarke both bag hat-tricks in a 9-5 win at Ryde against Wightlink.
Twenty four hours earlier the city side saw off Phantoms 4-1 while rivals for second spot Guildford Flames beat Sheffield 4-2 before losing 8-6 at Romford. Those results ensured Lightning took the runners-up spot.
On Saturday Lightning dominated the game against a strangely muted Phantoms side who seemed more keen to avoid injuries than inflict a defeat on their rivals.
In the first ten minutes both Grant McPherson and Chris McEwen had great efforts with goalie Euan King blocking the former and then pushing the latter wide of goal.
King was called into action again later when he forced a Gary Clarke shot over the bar.
However he could nothing to prevent Lightning's opening goal when Adam Radmall fired in from the left wing and Adam Carr redirected the puck into the net with 22 seconds remaining on the first period.
The hosts ran into penalty trouble shortly after the restart but still Phantoms did not look interested in making the most of the extra man.
Lightning doubled their advantage when good work behind the net by Michael Wales and Nick Poole saw the puck come out to Andre Smulter who blasted it home first time at 24mins 38secs.
There was a brief rally from the visitors which was rewarded with an Andy Munroe goal at 34mins 30secs but they could not find an equaliser.
Indeed it was Lightning who regained the ascendancy in the third period – outshooting Phantoms 14-3 – with King had been floored by a fierce Smulter shot.
From the following face-off Lukas Zatopek set up Joakim Wiklander who found a gap to the left of King at 43mins 53secs.
Clarke made it 4-1 with a shot high into the goal, set up by Wiklander and Carr, at 48mins 30secs.
Both Wales and Lewis Christie could have added to the tally into the final ten minutes with their shots failing to reach the target.
It took Lightning just 3mins 15secs to go ahead at Wightlink on Sunday when Smulter shot home.
Lewis Christie notched his first goal for the team on 4mins 28secs.
However Wightlink then rallied with two unanswered goals from Juraj Rusic at 5mins 21secs and Joel Petkoff on 11mins 54secs.
That only served to fire Lightning into action with Smulter, assisted by Zatopek, putting them back in front on the powerplays at 15mins 28secs.
Just 51 seconds into the second session Nick Poole made it 4-2 with Clarke registering the first of his hat-trick at 23mins 25secs.
Smulter completed his hat-trick with Lightning's sixth goal on 32mins 43s with Carr taking the total to seven at 35mins 5secs.
Christie set up Clarke for the visitors' final goal of the period on 38mins 6secs – just 14 seconds ahead of a further goal for the hosts from Tom Long.
Any hopes of a Raiders revival were squashed as Clarke notched his third goal, assisted by Carr, on 44mins mark although the hosts did hit back with two more goals in the final quarter of an hour.
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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
