After imploding at home to Romford last night, the Wildcats of Swindon arrived at Bretton like a pride of wounded and very angry lions but they’ll be hurting a whole lot more on the bus home after Phantoms snatched victory with a dramatic overtime winner !
To say that Cats started this one fired up would be an understatement in the extreme …… Aaron Nell’s players were evidently out to make a point in what for them was a must-win game. They combined pace with some venomous hitting in an effort to dismantle Phantoms composed demeanor in the opening minutes but Slava Koulikov’s troops stayed cool, avoided rearing up at some fairly agricultural hits and kept the visitors away from Jordan Marr’s goal.
The deadlock was broken courtesy of a sloppy “too many men” call against Phantoms who were desperately trying to haul their sixth man off without catching the eye of the officials. It didn’t work and despite surviving most of the penalty kill, Toms Rutkis found the back of the net at 10:08 after great work from Max Birbraer with just 26 seconds left on the powerplay.
Phantoms had simply not had the time nor the territorial dominance to create a whole lot in the first ten minutes but captain James Ferrara still managed to craft a surprise equaliser at 11:43 when he turned inside his marker before whipping one back across Renny Marr for an unlikely 1-1 which remained the score through to the first break despite both sides coming close.
Period two started as period one started with Phantoms struggling to escape their zone and with Wildcats looking by far the more likely but that momentum was halted at 24:52 when Sam Bullas was called for slashing and although Cats saw off the bulk of the home powerplay, a further call on Jan Kostal extended the Cats penalty kill for a further two minutes. This time, after more than three minutes of extra man advantage, Phantoms struck to go 2-1 ahead when James Ferrara picked up a loose puck to fire home from the angle for his second of the game.
Cats continued to take the game to Phantoms and pinged one off the inside of the upright before tieing the game after Callum Buglass turned one over on his own blue line to set up Adam Harding who finished with confidence at 35.40. Ales Padelek then pinged one off the crossbar before the second break but, despite the scores being level, it was another period edged by Cats who would have been frustrated at not leading.
Period three and there was no sign of change from Phantoms who were having to work very hard to keep a hold on a Cats side who were going for the win. To their credit, Phantoms kept the shots raining in to distance and despite Cats climbing all over Jordan Marr for rebounds, the Phantoms stopper was in outstanding form and was controlling the puck in his zone superbly and offering absolutely nothing in close.
As the game reached the last five minutes, Phantoms at last shifted the momentum their way and the Cats started to look like they knew what was coming but a Tom Norton tripping call on 57:30 signaled the start of a dramatic final two minutes plus. Phantoms set about defending the dramatic late powerplay but Scott Robson’s determined pinning of the puck to the boards behind the goal was a a defence too far for referee Deana Cuglietta who decided that it constituted a “delay of game” and called the penalty with just 1.47 left on the clock. Phantoms were fuming, coach Koulikov threatened to invade the ice-pad in rage and Ales Padelek grabbed a ten minute misconduct for smashing his stick as he left the ice ….. but like it or not, it was 3on5 for 1:17 and then 4on5 to the end if they survived that one !
The penalty kill was heroic. The three man defence kept shape, put their bodies on the line and with Jordan Marr seeing the puck like a beach ball, Phantoms survived not only the 3on5 but enough of the 4on5 to make it to overtime ….. a task that drew a deserved and noisy standing ovation from the home fans.
Overtime started with a brief and uneventful 3on4 and then went to 4on4 before settling at the regulation 3on3. Both netminders had to perform heroics to keep it even until 63:41 when Scott Robson slipped one through to Glenn Billing in close and he both moved and put down Renny Marr before coolly backhanding home the winner and then it was a case of limbs everywhere as the home fans went wild !
Phantoms MOM probably should have gone to Jordan Marr who was outstanding on the night but that overtime winner was always going to secure the beers for Glenn Billing …… and why not !
It was quite right that Cats took something from this game, in fact they really should have taken both points with a performance of great intensity for at least 55 minutes. Phantoms looked like a side that might just have had a cup-final in mind or maybe a cup final from last week in their legs but despite never grabbing any sustained offensive momentum in the game, their defensive work was ruthlessly efficient and, backed by outstanding netminding, they nullified most of an offensive onslaught from Cats that would have destroyed any other team in the league.
A superb two points for Phantoms and a crucial extra point advantage gained over Swindon and now …… it’s time to switch focus to the first tilt at silverware this season with what I can promise, based on the first leg, will be a very tough game on Friday night !
Game stats HERE