NEWS CHANNEL
Published: 18/03/2010 10:50 -
Updated: 18/03/2010 10:52
MK Lightning have a five goal deficit to overturn if they are to stand a chance of winning their first silverware of the season.
The MK ice hockey side suffered a 6-1 first-leg defeat in the EPL Cup final to Guildford Flames last night.
It may be Lightning who are riding high in the EPL table at the moment, but league form went out of the window as the Flames fired home five second period goals to take a healthy lead into the second leg which takes place next week.
Guildford came storming out of the blocks in the opening period forcing their former netminder Alex Mettam into plenty of action as they out shot Lightning by 12 shots.
Despite their dominance Guildford were unable to force a break through from the 20 minutes of activity.
But the Flames more than made up for their lack of goals with a thumping second period performance. The first goal came from Milos Melicherik who finally managed to beat Mettam on 24.34 and then the floodgates opened as Lukas Smital doubled the lead less than a minute later.
Things continued to get worse for Nick Poole's Lightning side as Tom Duggan made it 3-0 before goals from Smital and Martin Masa just 21 seconds apart gave the Flames a massive five goal advantage.
When Lightning found a reply on 37.09 through Matt Towalski the travelling supporters may have thought their team could get back into the first-leg.
However, Guildford regained their five goal cushion in the final quarter with Jez Lundin netting at 49.14 on the powerplay to leave Lightning with it all to do in Wednesday's second-leg meeting.
The MK ice hockey side suffered a 6-1 first-leg defeat in the EPL Cup final to Guildford Flames last night.
It may be Lightning who are riding high in the EPL table at the moment, but league form went out of the window as the Flames fired home five second period goals to take a healthy lead into the second leg which takes place next week.
Guildford came storming out of the blocks in the opening period forcing their former netminder Alex Mettam into plenty of action as they out shot Lightning by 12 shots.
Despite their dominance Guildford were unable to force a break through from the 20 minutes of activity.
But the Flames more than made up for their lack of goals with a thumping second period performance. The first goal came from Milos Melicherik who finally managed to beat Mettam on 24.34 and then the floodgates opened as Lukas Smital doubled the lead less than a minute later.
Things continued to get worse for Nick Poole's Lightning side as Tom Duggan made it 3-0 before goals from Smital and Martin Masa just 21 seconds apart gave the Flames a massive five goal advantage.
When Lightning found a reply on 37.09 through Matt Towalski the travelling supporters may have thought their team could get back into the first-leg.
However, Guildford regained their five goal cushion in the final quarter with Jez Lundin netting at 49.14 on the powerplay to leave Lightning with it all to do in Wednesday's second-leg meeting.
