Hull Seahawks 3 Leeds Knights 6: Knights enjoy perfect start to play-offs to leave Seahawks playing catch-up

All season Leeds Knights and Hull Seahawks have been going at it hammer and tongs with each other, developing a healthy Yorkshire rivalry that will last for some years to come.

Through the regular season and the National Cup, eight games produced four wins apiece ahead of an opening weekend to the NIHL National play-offs that brought them together again twice over three nights.

On Friday, Leeds prevailed 8-3 on home ice. On Sunday, in a much tighter, more intense meeting, they won out again, beating Matty Davies’s team 6-3.

Leeds emerged from the first round of games top of Group A, level on points with Peterborough Phantoms, who posted two wins against Bees.

Hull emerged hurting, but with head coach Davies confident they can achieve the catching up that they now need to do.

Hull came into the game looking to exact some kind of swift revenge for Friday night, but they got off to the worst possible start.

It was self-inflicted partly with Emil Svec taking a boarding penalty in the fourth minute. It looked as though the host might kill it off but, with 18 seconds left on the kill, Matt Barron was first to react to a Mac Howlett to put the Knights ahead at 4.52.

Hull were struggling to create anything clear-cut on the Knights goal, save for Svec’s fierce 14th-minute effort from the right circle which forced Sam Gospel into using his shoulder to deflect the puck to safety, Chilcott also denied by the Leeds netminder when his shot came through traffic just over a minute later.

But, for all their efforts, the next goal came at the other end, the puck finding Barron in the neutral zone on the right boards.

He was able to drive towards the net before cutting in and firing home over Jordan McLaughlin’s left-shoulder to beat him at his near post and make it 2-0 at 16.16.

It was Leeds who almost went further ahead just before the break, when Jake Witkowski cannoned one off the bar from the right circle, before Bobby Chamberlain then darted down the other end and forced Gospel into a reaction save.

It got worse for Hull early in the second, Chamberlain sitting for two on a roughing call, the penalty only being 32 seconds in when Howlett danced down the middle and slotted past McLaughlin at 21.27.

McLaughlin had to be alert to deny Witkowski with an outstretched left pad in the 23rd minute when the American cleverly redirected a feed off the left boards from Kieran Brown.

Relief finally arrived for the Sehawks and their fans just after the halfway point when Gospel could only save an effort from Final Ulrick, the puck working its way back to Brock Bartholomew on the blue line, from where he squared to Declan Balmer who fired it through traffic and into Gospel’s top left-hand corner at 31.49.

The joy, however, was all too short-lived.

The cheering from the home fans had not even died down when Leeds produced an immediate and lethal response, just 30 seconds later.

Buesa dropped onto the puck just inside the Hull zone and drove at McLaughlin before producing a sublime back-hand finish into the top left-hand corner.

Hull needed a moment early in the third and they got it, just 52 seconds in when Finlay Ulrick timed his move to the back post to perfection to steer home Sobchak’s pinpoint pass.

Again, though, momentum was swept the other way before not too long, Witkowski exiting the Leeds zone down the right before quickly finding Brown.

The Leeds captain beared down on McLaughlin and sold him a dummy before back-handing into the empty net.

Chamberlain tried to get his best to fire the hosts up when he took down Oli Endicott in a brief bout in centre ice and it had the desired effect.

When Ethan Hehir followed Endicott into the box on a delay of game call, Sobchak worked his magic in front of net, creating space for himself in front before roofing the puck to make it 5-3 at 53.44.

Gospel then had to be alert to deny a couple of close calls for Hull and produced a stunning point-blank save to deny Ulrick from in front.

With McLaughlin pulled, the Seahawks were exposed, allowing Howlett to switch the play to Buesa on the left, the Knights No 9 firing into an empty net to make it a perfect opening play-off weekend for the visitors.