The Waldeck Peterborough Phantoms began their weekend by coming back from 2-1 down to beat local rivals, Milton Keynes Lightning.
After an impeccably observed period of silence to mourn the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the first period got under way with end to end action. The first goal came after Liam Stewart opened up a breakaway for Bobby Chamberlain’s first goal with 6 minutes gone. Chamberlain then sat a minor for cross checking at 9:42. Seconds later, Luc Johnson tipped a Speirs drive to even the score at 10:13. With a minute remaining, Chamberlain picked up an interference call at 18:45. The period ended tied and the Phantoms with 45 seconds of power play time remaining.
The second period saw the Lightning kill the remaining Phantoms powerplay, however at 22:26 Mack Stewart scored his debut goal for the hosts as the puck just dribbled past Marr. Plenty of action saw the netminders and defence from both teams busy; at 31:45 the Phantoms took their first penalty of the evening as Nathan Pollard sat 2 minutes for slashing. Excellent penalty killing from the Phantoms kept the Lightning out. Despite a lot of hard work from both teams, the second period ended with that single goal being the difference and the hosts leading 2-1.
The third period followed the same pattern: fast paced, end to end hockey. The Lightning tried to break Marr early on but the Phantoms goalie held firm; at the other end the Phantoms had some decent chances as well, and Hedley held on to maintain the one goal lead despite increasing pressure from the Phantoms. At 50:18 Ben Russell gave Phantoms a powerplay with a slashing call. Although the Lightning killed it, the pressure kept building until – with just under 6 minutes to go – Jordan Hedley picked up a delay of game penalty, followed by a 2 minute misconduct for player coach Tim Wallace at 54:10, giving the Phantoms a 5 on 3 opportunity; however Luc Johnson then received a 2 minute hooking call 9 seconds later. That was enough for Lukas Sladkovsky to bury the equaliser, assisted by Bowering at 56:04. And 2 minutes later Ales Padalek scored the game- winning goal from Scott Robson and Callum Buglass.
Despite a rally from MKL after pulling Hedley for an extra skater, it ended Lightning 2 – Phantoms 3.
MOM: Jordan Marr
Scorers:
Luc Johnson – 1 + 0
Lukas Sladkovsky – 1 + 0
Ales Padelek – 1 + 0
Duncan Speirs – 0 + 1
Brad Bowering – 0 + 1
Callum Buglass – 0 + 1
Scott Robson – 0 + 1
By Dan Breen