Peterborough Phantoms 1 Leeds Knights 4 - Matt Barron fires hat-trick as Knights keep pace at top of NIHL National
MATT BARRON underlined his importance to Leeds Knights’ NIHL National title challenge when he scored a brilliant hat-trick to secure two vital points in a 4-1 at Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday night.
The Knights closed out a hectic week in style to keep pace with chief rivals for the regular season crown Milton Keynes Lightning.
The Lightning thrashed a fast-fading Bristol Pitbulls 11-0 on Saturday and were expected to do the same 24 hours later when the two teams met again in Buckinghamshire.
Elsewhere, Swindon Wildcats eased to a 7-0 win at home to Romford Raiders ahead of a Sunday night trip to play-off chasing Telford Tigers.
But an always tricky trip to Cambridgeshire was safely negotiated by the Knights, making it three league wins in five days on the back of two victories over Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Steeldogs.
As in both those derby meetings, the Knights enjoyed an ideal start at Mallard when Barron broke the deadlock with a power play goal at 3.37.
It got even better in the 10th minute when the Canadian import doubled his and his team’s tally.
They took the two-goal lead into the first intermission despite being outshot 13-5 and in a more even second period, it was the Knights who found the net again.
Again it came on the man advantage and again it came from the stick of Barron, taking his tally for the season to 37 when he beat Hayden Lavigne at 38.19.
The Phantoms gave themselves hope when they hit back in the 53rd minute with a power play goal of their own through Canadian Cameron Hough.
But Matt Haywood sealed the points with a short-handed empty-net strike with just under two minutes to go.