MATCH REPORT | PHANTOMS SURVIVE LATE FIGHTBACK TO EARN FOUR POINT WEEKEND

Having initially battled back from two down to take the lead, the WALDECK Peterborough Phantoms survived a late fightback from the Sheffield Steeldogs to claim a four point weekend.

After a commanding, but energy consuming win over the Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday night, the Phantoms welcomed back Tom Norton from suspension and added Mathew Saville to their lineup, whilst AJ Herring made his senior Phantoms debut.

But they didn’t get off to the best of starts and found themselves behind when Jonathan Phillips threw a shot on net, which was kicked out into the path of Nathan Ripley, who tapped home the rebound.

The Dogs went close again when they worked a powerplay chance for Jonathan Kirk in the middle of the zone, but Hayden Lavigne flashed the glove to make the save.

Phantoms looked like they’d created a big chance for Cam Hough to level the scores, but after he had his stick slashed out of his hand, the Dogs broke the other way and after Lavigne saved Ivan Björkly Nordström’s shot, Elmeri Hallfors was on hand to convert the rebound.

The first period left stand-in coaches Nathan Pollard and James Ferrara with work to do in the break - with the pair deputising for Slava Koulikov, who was serving the second of his two hame ban.

Whatever they said in the period break seemed to work, as Phantoms showed more promise in the offensive zone when the puck dropped for the second. Callum Buglass’ blue liner was saved and Ben Norton got enough on Jarvis Hunt’s rebound effort to divert it wide.

And they got on the board when Zaine McKenzie threw the puck on net through traffic from the blue line, and it found its way over Norton’s shoulder and into the net.

Hough and Barni Sari went close to the leveller before the end of the second period, but the Phantoms went into the second period break having halved the deficit.

And they exploded out of the locker room, levelling the game just 18 seconds into the third period through Janne Laakkonen, who put puck to twine after Hough’s initial effort was saved.

The turnaround was complete inside the first minute of the third period. With Phantoms on the powerplay, Luke Ferrara took aim at a one timer from the blue line and after that was blocked, he tried the same again and his second effort flew into the back of the net.

Nathan Salem then went close with a self-made effort, before Lavigne was called into action to make a big stop after McKenzie had turned the puck over just a few metres away from the Phantoms’ goal.

But Phantoms put a two goal buffer between themselves and the visitors at 47:52 when Laakkonen and Ferrara produced some good work in the right circle to find Hough, who advanced towards the centre of the zone and ripped his 51st goal of the season into the far corner.

The biggest cheer of the night came when Phantoms scored their fifth - as Connor Glossop benefitted from good work from Sari and Kynaston to advance into the zone and snipe his shot in off the pipework.

But the Steeldogs didn’t give up and got a goal back when the caught Phantoms with too many players committed to the attack, allowing the Dogs to break 3-on-1 and Halfors to play across the crease to Finlay Ulrick, who found the far corner from the left circle.

And all of a sudden, it was a one goal game once again as Walker Sommer produced a carbon copy of the finish Ulrick had provided just 37 seconds earlier.

The away side went all out for the leveller and pulled Norton from the net, which quickly allowed captain Ferrara to put the game beyond doubt, scoring on the empty net from his own defensive zone.

FINAL SCORE: Peterborough Phantoms 6-4 Sheffield Steeldogs