A short benched WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms suffered Sunday night defeat in their home league opener against the Sheffield Steeldogs.
Phantoms went into the game without the services of Nojus Venskutonis, Mathew Saville, Duncan Speirs, Janne Laakkonen and Jasper Foster, but did welcome Connor Glossop back to the line up, whilst Nicholas Martin made his senior debut.
They started brightly and almost hook the lead through Cam Hough, there were appeals for a goal but referee Will Hewitt waved the claims away.
The visitors took the lead when import forward Walker Sommer glided into the offensive zone with the puck, took it to the net and squeezed it beyond Hayden Lavigne from in close.
Steeldogs have a new look team this season and they continued o look dangerous in a bid to extend their lead - Sommer and Tim Smith went close with blue line efforts - Lavigne equal to both.
Phantoms drew level through captain Luke Ferrara, who won the puck in the neutral zone and drove towards net, before picking his spot and beating Ben Norton in the Sheffield net.
Brad Bowering almost gave Phantoms the advantage after showing some good hands in the offensive zone, but his shot pinged the crossbar.
They did take the lead on 15:37, though, when Ferrara teed up Hough for a big one time slap shot from the right circle which left Norton with no chance.
The action continued as the period wore on, as Bowering and Tom Barry tangled, before Jack Brammer went for Billy Thorpe - all four sat fighting penalties as a result but Phantoms headed to the powerplay.
And they made the powerplay count as Ferrara again turned provider, this time for Austin Mitchell-King to send Phantoms into the first interval 3-1 ahead.
Unfortunately for Phantoms, that was as good as it got on the night as the Steeldogs utilised their full bench against a hard-working, but tiring Phantoms side. Sam Tremblay reduced the Phantoms’ lead to one, scoring on a rebound after a good initial stop by Lavigne.
It was a tie game moments later when Sommer grabbed his second of the game, before Tremblay completed a quickfire turnaround by tipping home a Sam Cooper blue line effort.
Hough almost got Phantoms back on level terms near the end of the period but his effort on the breakaway was kicked out, and the rebound didn’t fall kindly for the onrushing Nathan Salem.
Both sides traded chances in the third period but both goalies stood tall to the task. The Steeldogs sealed their victory on 58:01 when Jonathan Kirk scored on the empty net, with Lavigne at the bench and the extra skater on for Phantoms.
FINAL SCORE: Peterborough Phantoms 3-5 Sheffield Steeldogs
Phantoms goals:
13:06 (PP 1-1 SS): #19 Luke Ferrara (unassisted) (EHG)
15:37 (PP 2-1 SS): #29 Cam Hough / #19 Luke Ferrara / #91 Nathan Salem (PPG)
18:06 (PP 3-1 SS): #24 Austin Mitchell-King / #19 Luke Ferrara / #2 Tom Norton (PPG)
Steeldogs goals:
5:15 (PP 0-1 SS): #8 Walker Sommer / #6 Ben Morgan / #42 Tim Smith (EHG)
35:01 (PP 3-2 SS): #18 Sam Tremblay / #11 Fin Ulrick / #43 Sam Cooper (EHG)
36:50 (PP 3-3 SS): #8 Walker Sommer / #42 Tim Smith / #6 Ben Morgan (EHG)
38:45 (PP 3-4 SS): #18 Sam Tremblay / #43 Sam Cooper / #90 Jonathan Kirk (EHG)
58:01 (PP 3-5 SS): #90 Jonathan Kirk / #43 Sam Cooper / #11 Fin Ulrick (ENG)
Phantoms man of the match: #25 Billy Thorpe
Steeldogs man of the match: #8 Walker Sommer