Lightning aiming to bounce back against Manchester after Bison charge

MK LIGHTNINGslipped to their heaviest defeat of the season so far as a rampaging Basingstoke Bison made it a debut to forget for new signing Tuomas Tikkanen.

The city skaters had beaten Basingstoke every time the two sides had faced this season but they came unstuck at Planet Ice on Saturday.

Finn Tikkanen took to the ice for the first time since joining Lightning last week as a replacement for the released forward Juraj Gracik.

But Bison took the lead 20 seconds into the second period through Ollie Bronnimann and the same player doubled the advantage.

Muzzy Wales pulled one back for Lightning but the comeback failed to materialise as Daniel Volrab and Sam Oakford both found the target to increase the Basingstoke lead.

Bison’s fifty-year-old player-coach Steve Moria added the fifth goal to leave Lightning fifth in the English Premier League table.

Nick Poole’s side are determined to bounce back and have a point to prove against Saturday’s opponents Manchester Phoenix.

The two teams have met four times already this season and Lightning’s first league fixture of the campaign resulted in a 5-2 victory for Poole’s men.

But since then Lightning have been unable to take any points from Phoenix, the reigning league champions.

Poole said:“We know the Phoenix are beatable, we’ve done it before and it’s about time we did it again. 

“They’ve come back from the bottom half of the league table to prove that they can still be title contenders, but we’ve got a point to prove too, that we’re still in the race. 

“Manchester dropped points in their last two matches, and Guildford lost to Telford last Sunday, which shows you how unpredictable this whole league is. 

“It’s way too early to be writing Lightning out of the story.”

Influential defenceman Michael Farn has missed Lightning’s last three games through injury which has stretched the team’s defence, but he is expected to return to action on Saturday, to put the rearguard back to full strength.

AndLightning will face another stern test on Sunday, with an away trip to current table toppers Guildford Flames.