Match Report: Leeds Knights 2-8 – Milton Keynes Lightning

Leeds Knights 2-8 - Milton Keynes Lightning. David Thomson scored four as Lightning turned a 2-2 game into an emphatic NIHL National away win. The post Match Report: Leeds Knights 2-8 – Milton Keynes Lightning appeared first on Milton Keynes Lightning Ice Hockey.

Milton Keynes Lightning beat Leeds Knights 8-2 at Planet Ice Leeds on 3 October, with six unanswered goals turning a level NIHL National contest into a clear away win. David Thomson scored four times, while Sean Norris struck twice during the second-period passage that put Lightning in control. Leeds had twice drawn level through Liam Peyton, but could not halt the visitors once Norris restored their lead.

With Sam Gospel in goal for Leeds Knights and Jordan Hedley in goal for Milton Keynes Lightning, Leeds took the lead at 06:43 when Peyton scored from Balint Pakozdi and Owen Sobchak. Lightning’s reply came in a more difficult situation. Archie Hazeldine received two minutes for slashing at 13:48, yet Liam Stewart equalised shorthanded just 39 seconds later, assisted by Bradey Johnson. The teams reached the first interval at 1-1, with Leeds having recorded nine shots to Lightning’s five.

The lead changed hands twice early in the middle period. Thomson put Lightning 2-1 ahead at 24:14, with Danny Weight and Norris providing the assists. Leeds answered almost immediately: Peyton scored his second at 24:33, just 19 seconds after Thomson’s goal, with Sobchak again involved. At 2-2, neither side had been able to hold an advantage for long.

Norris changed that at 28:17, putting Lightning back in front with an unassisted goal. He added another at 31:02, this time from Thomson and Ed Knaggs, to open the first two-goal gap of the evening. The two goals came less than three minutes apart and shifted the score from 2-2 to 2-4. Norris’s second was also the start of a sustained stretch of scoring for the visitors, rather than an isolated response to Leeds’ equaliser.

Leeds defenceman Sam Dunn received two minutes for interference at 32:38, and Lightning made use of the power play. Weight scored at 33:55, assisted by Carter Hamill, to extend the lead to three. Thomson then added his second at 38:25, again assisted by Weight and Norris. By the second interval it was 2-6: Lightning had scored five goals in the period to Leeds’ one, including four in succession after Peyton’s equaliser. The visitors recorded 20 shots in those 20 minutes, compared with eight for the Knights.

Penalties late in that period carried into the third. At 39:47, Leeds’ Jordan Griffin received separate two-minute penalties for holding and roughing, while Lightning’s Carter Hamill received two minutes for roughing. The roughing calls should not be confused with the holding penalty that gave Lightning their next power-play goal. Thomson scored at 40:53, with Harry Gulliver and Jarred White assisting, to make it 2-7 and complete his hat-trick less than a minute into the final period.

There was no further Leeds goal as Lightning maintained the advantage established in the middle period. Thomson completed his four-goal game at 51:34, assisted by Weight, and the score remained 2-8 for the final eight minutes and 26 seconds. Lightning finished with 29 shots to Leeds’ 25 and two power-play goals, alongside Stewart’s first-period shorthanded equaliser. Weight contributed a goal and three assists; Norris finished with two goals and two assists.

The result followed the clubs’ 2-1 overtime meeting in Milton Keynes on 19 September. This time the difference came after Leeds’ second equaliser: Norris’s two goals began a six-goal unanswered run, and Thomson supplied the final three goals of that run.

Source: Official eSports gamesheet.

The post Match Report: Leeds Knights 2-8 – Milton Keynes Lightning appeared first on Milton Keynes Lightning Ice Hockey.