The WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms travelled to Milton Keynes to avenge their previous 1-6 loss at home last Sunday.
38 seconds into the game, Nathan Salem took advantage of a fumbling Milique Martelly, took the puck off the defenceman’s stick and backhanded the puck top shelf of Lightning’s goalie Jordan Hedley’s net, lighting the lamp for the Phantoms - wanting to keep momentum in the game Louie Kynaston and Cam Hough both shot at Hedley. Martelly scored the only goal for the Lightning.
While Richard Hartmann sat two for tripping Carter Hamill, Phantoms’ goalie Hayden Lavigne stood on his head whilst facing shots from Toms Rutkis and Dillion Lawrence, Sean Norris also took a shot but hit the crossbar; after successfully completing a penalty kill, Joe Gretton, Kynaston and Salem all wound their sticks up at Hedley.
The beginning of the second period saw both sides exchange multiple penalties - this came to a close when Scott Robson secured another goal after a quick pass from Laakkonen allowing Robson to tap the puck through Hedley’s five-hole. Norris and Solder tried to get Lightning back in the game but Lavigne glove saved both attempts. Phantoms Duncan Speirs and Hough cleverly disrupted James Griffin and Ross Venus’ play; Speirs stole the puck from Griffin as he tried to infiltrate the Phantoms zone and Hough intercepted Venus’ play when trying to attack.
Lightning started period three with two men down again as Rio Grinell-Parke sat for MK’s bench minor and Norris sat for slashing; Phantoms’ top line made sure not to waste this opportunity this was evidenced when Laakkonen carried the puck in front of Hedley’s net drop passing to Ferrara who finished up the play - extending their lead.
As the man advantage swung in Lightning’s favour, Hamill, Venus and Lawrence all took unsuccessful shots at Lavigne as he continued to stand tall, Hough even found the time to breakaway from the Lightning’s powerplay unit and shoot at Hedley. The Phantoms absorbed the Lightning’s pressure and made chances at Hedley in the forms of Zaine McKenzie, Jasper Foster and Speirs.
With less than five minutes left, Laakkonen decided to keep pushing for more goals, he entered the offensive zone and passed to Ferrara to draw Hedley out of his net Ferrara made a quick pass to Hough who tapped home the puck. Less than a minute later interim Lightning Head Coach Joe Wilson pulled Hedley to try and recover the game, again Laakkonen wasn’t ready to finish the game as he shot from his own zone and into the empty net, finishing the game with a fifth goal.
Final Score: Milton Keynes Lightning 1-5 Peterborough Phantoms
After the game we spoke to interim Head Coach Nathan Pollard about his thoughts on the game: "I thought we're superb from minute 1 to minute 60 and obviously, big shout out to Lavi. I thought he was massive, but the game plan was executed perfectly, I thought the guys were just unbelievable. There was tension leftover from last week but it’s great to get that result tonight"
Pollard went on to talk about the transition from being Head Coach with Phantoms 2 to Phantoms 1, "My legs are getting a bit cold, I’m used to skating around. You’ve got a professional set of guys here, they’re all dialled into the tactics and they take it very seriously, they were a joy to coach."
Talking about the differences between Slava’s coaching and his own, Pollard said "I think Slava sets the game up perfectly, I can’t say it’s all me - we have a lot of conversations with Slava. We play similar at Phantoms 2 to how Phantoms 1 do because Slava is a great coach and he knows what he’s doing - so you take influence from that."
Man of the Match:
Lightning: #33 Milique Martelly
Phantoms: #30 Hayden Lavigne
Lightning Goals:
04:33 (MKL 1-1 PP) #33 Milique Martelly / #37 Patrik Forsberg / #11 Callum Field (EHG)
Phantoms Goals:
00:38 (MKL 0-1 PP) #91 Nathan Salem (EHG)
28:23 (MKL 1-2 PP) #11 Scott Robson / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
40:37 (MKL 1-3 PP) #19 Luke Ferrara / #95 Jasper Foster / #62 Janne Laakkonen (PPG)
55:49 (MKL 1-4 PP) #29 Cameron Hough / #19 Luke Ferrara / #62 Janne Laakkonen (EHG)
57:42 (MKL 1-5 PP) #62 Janne Laakkonen / #11 Scott Robson / #38 Duncan Speirs (ENG