Milton Keynes Lightning 2 Leeds Knights 5: Champions dig deep to rip the thunder out of hosts' dome
IN NIHL National, every team going into Milton Keynes Lightning's rink is likely to start games with their backs against the wall - simply given the dominance Tim Wallace’s team have enjoyed on home ice in recent seasons.
Throw into the mix the fact you are missing three key players then, just for good measure, you lose a fourth to injury inside the first 10 minutes and, for some, all hope may appear lost.
Leeds Knights clearly didn’t get the memo.
Ryan Aldridge’s team took to the ice at the ‘Thunderdome’ on Saturday night already missing experienced defensive pair Jordan Griffin and Lewis Baldwin through injury, plus one of their most offensively-gifted forwards from the past three seasons in the shape of Mac Howlett, out for a third consecutive weekend through illness.
But no matter, those left fit and standing came together to produce easily the Knights’ best performance of the season so far, possibly one of the best ever under Aldridge in his three and a bit years at the helm.
Jordan Hedley was the busier of the two netminders in the opening exchanges and there could be no argument when the Knights took the lead through Balint Pakozdi’s power play strike at 10.13.
A hook from Oli Endicott a short while later led to a penalty shot which was neatly dispatched by the Lightning’s Jordan Cownie, but that was about as good as it got for the hosts, who would no doubt have been expecting to go on and emulate their play-off semi-final triumph over the Knights back in April.
But while on that occasion their physical superiority may have helped them win the day on their way to winning the play-off crown against Peterborough Phantoms 24 hours later at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena, it failed to have the desired effect this time around, the Knights making it five wins in a row for the season and their third straight triumph in Milton Keynes.
Short on numbers they may have been, but the Knights stuck together producing notable performances all over the ice, not least 16-year-old defenceman Jonas Bennett who took all the extra ice time he was handed in his stride.
With Oli Endicott sitting in the box for an unsportsmanlike call, the Lightning were handed a timely opportunity to get ahead before the first break.
But the breakthrough came at the other end, a sublime shorthanded strike from Kieran Brown with 38 seconds of the period remaining, silencing the home crowd.
Those fans were left quiet again when, after a scrappy second period, 17-year-old Edgars Vengis - in another excellent performance - again showed his knack for being in the right place at the right time to make it 3-1 at 38.14 with his second goal of the season.
There were a few late nerves among the travelling contingent when Archie Salisbury jabbed the puck home off a fortuitous bounce of the back wall behind the excellent Sam Gospel’s net, but the Knights had another response in them. Two in fact.
Brown doubled his tally for the night to restore the two-goal cushion with 75 seconds remaining, beating Hedley for a second time when one-on-one.
Liam Peyton then added insult to injury with a long-range empty-netter to seal a fully-deserved 5-2 win.