Bees are on course after shootout win
Hosts strike down Milton Keynes Lightning to stay eighth
The TSI World Bees remain on course for a play-off finish this season after claiming a vital shoot-out win over the Milton Keynes Lightning at the Slough Ice Arena on Sunday.
Dominik Gabaj’s side went down to a thrilling 7-5 defeat to the league’s second placed side on Saturday but bounced back in fine style on their home ice for a 5-4 (SO) victory which gives them a slim, three-point advantage over ninth-placed Solway Sharks heading into the league’s final few matches.
As it stands, the Bees will playoff in Group A, alongside the Leeds Knights, Hull Seahawks, and Peterborough Phantoms, but there is plenty of work still to be done. They have seven league matches left to play, starting with a triple-header this weekend. The Bees host seventh-placed Raiders at 7pm on Friday evening – who they’d overtake with a win – before playing two away games at the Solway Sharks on Saturday (7pm), and the Leeds Knights on Sunday (7pm).
A close battle in Milton Keynes must have given Gabaj’s side some confidence coming into Sunday’s return game which saw money raised for the Pink Ribbon Foundation.
Wearing a special pink jersey to mark the occasion, Will Stead fired them ahead after only 2.24 minutes with Ryan Webb and Oli Knaggs receiving the assists. When the Bees found themselves with a man advantage following Ross Green’s kneeing penalty, they extended their advantage through Gabaj’s strike at 14.59. Vanya Antonov and Ed Bradley collected the assists. Then, with only 45 seconds left of the period Antonov slotted home to give the Bees a 3-0 lead.
The Lightning haven’t found
themselves so far behind after a single period on many occasions this season, and they started to eat into the Bees’ lead when Rory Herrman scored at 24.10. The Bees wasted chances to restore their cushion before the deficit was cut even further by Green’s goal for the Lightning.
The visitors then equalised when Herrman scored his second of the night early in the third period, but a penalty called against Green gave the Bees a chance to quell the comeback when Adam Rosbottom scored with the assists going to Ed
Bradley and Gabaj. Milton Keynes pulled their netminder Will Kerlin for the final moments of the game and their extra attacker paid dividends when Tim Wallace levelled the scores once more at
58.40. The goal made it 4-4 and forced the game into overtime, during which the Bees defence was tested on several occasions by the Lightning. However, the additional five minutes wasn’t enough to separate the teams and the game was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Gianni Vitali, Dominik Gabaj and Josh Smith scored to secure the Bees a vital two points.