Telford Tigers returned to home ice on Sunday after a disappointing defeat on the road in Basingstoke.
Tigers had been level going into the final minute of the game against the Bison but conceded two late goals to throw the points away. Next up was league leaders Swindon Wildcats who were also coming into the game on the back of a defeat after a heavy loss to Leeds Knights in Swindon.
Tigers had been frustratingly inconsistent in recent weeks but their first period performance was much better. In the third minute, Eric Henderson broke in on goal and hit a wrist shot into the roof of the net to open the scoring. The lead was doubled two minutes later with a power play goal. Rhodes Mitchell-King hit a fierce shot from the top of the slot that went into the top corner of Renny Marr’s goal.
With both teams spending time in the penalty box the game was disjointed but it was the home side that scored next. With a delayed penalty called, Brynley Capps and Tate Shudra broke away and Shudra was able to collect the puck and shoot high over Marr’s glove for Telford’s third goal.
An almost perfect period for Tigers was spoiled with just fifteen seconds to go. With David Thomson in the penalty box, Swindon scored through Owen Griffiths.
Telford scored a fourth goal early in the second period. Thomson hit an unstoppable wrist shot into the top left hand corner of the Swindon goal for his fiftieth goal for the club.
Swindon hit straight back through a back handed shot from Griffiths that Ben Norton could not keep out.
Tigers had a glorious chance to add to their score with an extended 5-on-3 power play but they could not get past Marr and handed the momentum to the visitors. Swindon were galvanised from their successful penalty kill and narrowed the deficit further with a goal from Ed Bradley. Tigers ended the second period with a one goal lead.
In the opening minute of the third period Tigers extended the lead. Harry Ferguson scored with a shot from between the circles that Marr couldn’t get near.
With a two goal lead Telford were in a great position but Swindon scored three goals in three minutes to take control of the game. Jamie Smith scored with a long range shot that went in off the post. Ryan Wells then tied the game with a slap shot from the blue line that beat Norton who was screened by his own defense. Tigers fell behind thirty seconds later when Tyler Watkins shot over Norton’s blocker to give Swindon their first lead of the game.
With eight minutes of the game left Swindon added an insurance goal from Tomasz Malasinski.
Telford could not get back into the game and the loss condemned the Shropshire side to back-to-back defeats.
Final Score: Autocraft Telford Tigers 5 Swindon Wildcats 7.
Scorers: Eric Henderson, Rhodes Mitchell-King, Tate Shudra, David Thomson and Harry Ferguson.
Man of the match: Ben Norton.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “Ben Norton was top draw this evening, he made some incredible saves that gave us the platform to get ahead and for two periods I thought we were good for our lead.
“I’ve said it before, when you don’t capitalise on a 5-on–3 power play opportunity it’s a real momentum shift and I think our level dropped in the third period. We had some poor defensive zone coverage, lost wall battles and didn’t sustain much offensive zone pressure.
“It was a difficult dressing room post-game, we did a lot of good things, but Swindon’s quality, depth, ability to play 200 feet and their transition was the difference.”
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