Autocraft Telford Tigers returned to home ice yesterday evening to face Leeds Knights, after a much needed midweek victory over Peterborough Phantoms.
The decision to bring in new imports David Thomson and Eric Henderson had proven correct with both players contributing significantly in the points column since their arrival and Thomson scoring a goal of the season contender in midweek.
Leeds broke the deadlock in the seventh minute of the game when a shot from Matt Bissonnette went in off Brad Day’s stick. But within a minute the home side were level. Scott McKenzie sent a pass into the slot where Fin Howells smashed home a wrist shot past Sam Gospel in the Leeds goal. The assist was McKenzie’s 500th assist for the club.
Both teams traded chances with hardly any stoppages in the game and ended the period level.
With the game very close Telford were disappointed to fall behind when Bissonnette scored his second of the night with a shot over Day’s glove. As the clock ticked into the final two minutes of the second period, Leeds doubled their lead. A defensive turnover led to Leeds’ most dangerous player Kieron Brown getting a free shot at goal and Brown hammered home a wrist shot that left Day no chance.
Tigers pushed hard in the third period and an early chance to get back into the game was denied when referee Anderson ruled out a “goal”. James Smith was adjudged to have made contact with Gospel before the puck went into the net and the visitors’ two goal lead remained.
Telford did get a goal back shortly after with a long range shot from Edgars Landsbergs who sent the puck flying past Gospel from the Leeds’ blue line.
Tigers continued to put pressure on the Leeds’ goal and were rewarded with an equaliser whilst on the power play. Danny Rose shot at Gospel and Harry Ferguson was on hand to turn the rebound into the open net.
With the game finally balanced Telford headed into the final five minutes seeking a winner but ended up losing the game. Bissonnette set up Matt Barron from behind the goal with the Telford defence losing Barron and allowing him to score from close range.
The game was sealed in the final seconds as Day was pulled from goal to add an extra attacker. Tigers fumbled the puck on the Leeds’ blue line allowing Matt Haywood to break away and score into the empty net.
Tigers travel to Leeds next for the second of back to back games against the current league champions.
Final Score: Autocraft Telford Tigers 3 Leeds Knights 5.
Scorers: Fin Howells, Edgars Landsberg and Harry Ferguson.
Man of the match: Fin Howells.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “That was not the result we wanted but it was a strong performance and I was pleased with our commitment and character plus I thought special teams made a big difference particularly our penalty kill which is something we have been working hard to improve. We were two goals behind going into the third period and showed resilience and quality to tie the game.
“We can go to Leeds in our next game with plenty of belief knowing we can challenge them.”
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