Leeds Knights show their NIHL National title resolve against Peterborough Phantoms

There may have been some late, unnecessary nerves at Elland Road Ice Arena when the visitors posted three late power play goals in just two minutes, but the Knights had already done enough.

By the time Peterborough found their scoring touch on the man advantage, the Knights already effectively had the game in the bag, forging 6-1 ahead after a dominant first 40 minutes.

The result ensured the Knights remained top of the standings going into Sunday night’s rematch with the Phantoms in Peterborough.

Some key ingredients were missing on the night for the hosts, most notably Aldridge himself, banned from the bench for the first of two games after his team broke a penalty points threshold for the season.

Goaltender Sam Gospel was out injured, handing a second straight start to back-up Harrison Walker, while forwards Ili Endicott (suspension) and Innes Gallacher (injury) were also missing.

“I thought the boys came out of the gates flying and in the first period they were phenomenal,” said Aldridge, who watched the game from the stands.

“We did all the things that we spoke about before the game but it’s obviously tough to play like that for 60 minutes.

“They were massive points for us, Harrison played great and, for the most part, everyone played well.

“When you face a little bit of adversity it’s good when you can come out on top and the boys stepped up. We were missing those three players out of the line-up, so to still get the two points was massive.”

Matt Bissonnette got the ball rolling for the hosts in the second minute with his first goal in 10 games, firing home from in front off a feed from behind by captain Kieran Brown after good build-up play from Finley Bradon.

It was Brown himself who doubled the lead, breaking clear while the Knights were shorthanded to beat Hayden Lavigne low down to his right at 13.09.

Luke Ferrara halved the deficit from close range at 17.49 but the two-goal lead was restored before the break when Matt Barron pounced on a loose puck in front at 19.29 for his 30th goal of the season.

It took a while for the Knights to add to their haul in the second period, but once they did, the floodgates opened.

Bradon was quickest to react to a loose puck in front of net to beat the outstretched Lavigne to make it 4-1 at 31.11 before Brown doubled his tally just over a minute later when finishing off a swapping move started in the Knights’ own zone by Bailey Perre and involving Dylan Heir and Matt Haywood before providing the Knights’ skipper with a simple finish.

The game was effectively put beyond the Phantoms when, on the power play, Ethan Hehir broke up play on the left boards and quickly found Brown at the top of the right circle from where he blasted past Lavigne for his hat-trick at 34.34.

A five-minute penalty for slashing on Mac Howlett put the Phantoms on the powerplay in the 54th minute and although they beat Walker three times in just over two minutes – through Nathan Salem, Austin Mitchell-King and Cameron Hough – the damage had already long been done.