Well it took a desperate defensive trap system throughout the last ten minutes of the game to hold back a rampant Swindon Wildcats who were seriously threatening to pull off the come back of all time but ….. Phantoms made it and will be going to Coventry as well as contesting the Divisional Play-Off Final against Basingstoke Bison next weekend !
Nobody was quite sure how Phantoms would approach this one nor how Wildcats might respond to seeing their two goal first leg advantage turn into a five goal deficit overnight but Phantoms were solid if a little bit cautious early doors and did more than enough to keep the Cats at arms length. Ales Padelek slid home the opener at 7:44 to surely put any remaining nails in the Cats coffin and Aaron Nell’s side looked less than enthusiastic after that …… particularly when Will Weldon finished top shelf just 1:32 into the middle period to establish a seven goal aggregate lead. Now it was a stroll in the park ….. or at least it should have been !
At 24:14, Nathan Pollard took an unfortunate high stick major call after drawing blood and Cats found themselves with the extra man for five minutes. Phantoms defended fairly well but Chris Jones did beat Euan King from the angle for a single goal return and it was a goal that sparked some belated enthusiasm from the Cats who slipped up a gear with Sam Bullas tieing the game and then going on to put Cats ahead with 1:57 left on the period. Before slight nerves could kick in for the home fans, Nathan Salem squeezed one home from the tightest of angles on a rare Phantoms attack to level the scores at the second break.
Phantoms were still five up going into the third but, in a blink of an eye, the relative calm descended into total panic as Cats crashed home three goals in a little over two minutes. The first two came courtesy of superb strikes from Aaron Nell, the second on a powerplay after Scott Robson had cleared the boards with a clearance. The third from Max Birbraer saw a pumped up Sam Bullas celebrating in the face of Euan King, a silly indiscretion that saw Cats lose their momentum to go 4on5.
No powerplay goal from Phantoms who were now looking decidedly jumpy with Cats smelling blood and moving in for the kill. Euan King was fighting a heroic rearguard action to keep Cats from over-running Phantoms and, not a moment too soon, coach Koulikov called his troops in and, with twelve minutes to survive, switched to his famed defensive trap formation. It was not the most convincing of traps but it worked ….. it took away Cats dominance of the neutral zone and changed the game to one of dump and chase and, despite one or two further scares, Phantoms regained a certain amount of composure through to the end.
The visitors pulled their netminder with 2:03 left on the game and, after a couple of missed chances, Nathan Salem had the simplest of empty net finishes to put the game to rest with seventeen seconds left on the clock.
Phantoms Man of the Match went deservedly to Will Weldon.
Tonight, frightening at times or not, it was a case of job done and that is all that matters …… Phantoms have achieved their weekend goal !
It would be wrong to over-analyze this one. It was a freakish set of circumstances leading into the game and it was clear for two periods that neither side really knew how to handle it. Phantoms certainly seemed content to just sit back and hold on to what they had and that was reasonable given they were 7-0 up at one point but those three quick goals sent them into a tailspin from which they struggled to escape. It was a good call from Slava Koulikov to take the early time-out and the tactical switch did the job.
Had we been playing to overturn a 4-2 deficit then both sides would have approached this one differently and who knows what the outcome would have been but I’m pretty certain we would have had a clearer gameplan than we seemed to have tonight !
Next week sees Phantoms first tilt at a trophy when they take on Basingstoke Bison over two legs in the Divisional Play-Off Final. Phantoms will host the first leg at Bretton face-off 7pm.
Game stats HERE