Lightning strike seven past sorry Steelers

Time for our match report from Saturday night's game at Milton Keynes.

After their European adventure in Denmark, Steelers returned to the bread and butter of the Elite League action. They were looking to record an away win and close in those above them, but standing in their way were Elite League newcomers Milton Keynes Lightning who are coached by GB national coach Pete Russell. Steelers were missing Levi Nelson who was not fit enough to play after his knock in Rungsted against Kurbads. Colton Fretter made his first appearance in the line-up after completing his six game suspension whilst Jonas Westerling was looking to build on his European show. Lightning were at full strength which meant that veteran Ashley Tait iced against one of his old clubs, and former Nottingham Panthers netminder Miika Wiikman was between the pipes.

It was a frenetic start with Lightning looking very dangerous on the counter with pace and putting the Steelers defence under pressure. Fretter almost marked his return to the side with a goal but Wiikman denied him with a pad save at the near post, Lightning then went up the other end of the ice and Christian Isackson skated around the back of the net before spotting Tommy Mele arriving in the slot; and the American rifled a shot past Ervins Mustukovs. Brady Ramsay then a had tilt with Alex Forbes as tempers started to boil up nicely, followed by another confrontation between Andre Deveaux and Lightning captain Kevin King. Deveaux picked up a double minor for roughing and a ten minute misconduct from referee Tom Darnell for his part; whilst King a single roughing minor.

With the game headed into the last five minutes of first period, Steelers were defending a too many men minor when Lightning scored a second goal. Francis Verreault-Paul with a shot from the left circle that into arrowed home. King went close with a shot that appeared to strike the post as the home side started to dominate proceedings. However, the game saw multiple penalties handed out by the referee, Steelers definitely losing their cool for sure with Deveaux leaving the game with a 2+10 check to the head penalty early in the second. With it being his second misconduct of the match; the Canadian centre took no further part in the game. Lightning upped the pressure and scored a third at 28:38 with a ripper of a blue line shot from former Cardiff Devils defenceman Carl Hudson. King made it 4-0 with 5:18 left in the second when Fretter was dispossessed by Hudson and he set up his skipper to light the lamp shorthanded. 

There must have been some harsh words in the Steelers locker room at the end of the second as they came out with renewed vigour and put the pressure back on the home side. Having had a "goal" washed out on the end of period buzzer, Steelers snapped Wiikman's planned shutout as Liam Kirk stuffed home a loose puck to net 45:54. Then as Zack Fitzgerald sat a slashing minor, captain Jonathan Phillips scampered away down the wing to reduce the arrears to a two goal game. Just under seven and a half minutes were left when Lightning made it 5-2; a scramble in front of Mustukovs and Mele poked in his second of the night. Steelers were outshooting their opponents but on their tenth powerplay of the night, Lightning scored a sixth with 4:18 left thanks to former Stingray, Panther and Devil Guillaume Doucet. It was a third powerplay strike against the league's best penalty kill. Then just to rub it even more, Mele broke in with 24 seconds left and with all the confidence of man wanting to score a hat-trick: he did just that to net Lightning's seventh.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Lightning 7 Steelers 2

Steelers Scoring: Westerling 0+2, Kirk 1+0, J.Phillips 1+0, Aarssen 0+1, Matheson 0+1 .

Lightning Scoring: Mele 3+1, Doucet 1+2, Hudson 1+1, King 1+1, Phillips 0+2, Verreault-Paul 1+0, Kearney 0+1, Isackson 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Lightning 29 Steelers 46

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 5 (0% conversion), Lightning 3 from 10 (30% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Lightning 19 Steelers 59

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 22 Saves (463), GAA: 7.00 (2.51), Save Percentage 75.90% (91.30%)

Man of the Match: Jonathan Phillips (Steelers), Tommy Mele (Lightning)

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