Milton Keynes Lightning beat Peterborough Phantoms 10-3 at Planet Ice Milton Keynes on 31 October, scoring six times in the second period to turn a 4-1 lead into a commanding NIHL National win. Peterborough had equalised in the opening period, but Carter Hamill put Lightning back ahead just 28 seconds later. Danny Weight and Jarred White each scored twice as the home side reached double figures before the final interval.
With Jordan Hedley in goal for Milton Keynes Lightning and Matt Hennessey and Will Bray sharing goaltending duties for Peterborough Phantoms, Lightning went ahead at 08:50 when Weight scored from Milique Martelly and Sean Norris. His two goals in the match extended his goal-scoring run to a third successive competitive game. Peterborough answered at 12:44 through Luke Ferrara, assisted by Billy Thorpe and Janne Laakkonen, to make it 1-1. It was the visitors’ only equaliser, and the score stayed level for less than half a minute.
Hamill restored Lightning’s lead at 13:12 with an unassisted goal. Weight added his second at 15:25, with Norris and David Thomson providing the assists, before Liam Stewart scored from Jake Hayward and Archie Salisbury at 16:53. Those three goals after Ferrara’s reply came in under four minutes, leaving MKL 4-1 ahead at the first break. Lightning recorded 11 shots on goal to Peterborough’s nine in the opening period.
Lightning wore their Halloween jerseys for the fixture, attended by 2,223. On the ice, the lead grew at 24:39 when Cameron Hamill scored from Norris and Kell Beattie to make it 5-1. Mack Stewart followed at 27:10, assisted by Harry Gulliver and Liam Stewart. Just 13 seconds later, Beattie scored from Mack Stewart and Ed Knaggs. Beattie’s goal, his first in three competitive games, took Lightning from a four-goal advantage to a six-goal advantage in a short passage of play.
MKL added three more before the second interval. Thomson scored at 33:42 from Weight and Norris, taking the score to 8-1. It was Norris’s fourth assist of the match: he had also helped set up both of Weight’s goals and Cameron Hamill’s. Weight finished with two goals and an assist, while Thomson had a goal and an assist.
White then scored twice in the closing minutes of the period. Hayward and Salisbury assisted his goal at 35:33, and Hayward and Bradey Johnson combined to assist another at 37:51. The second made it 10-1 and completed a run of nine unanswered Lightning goals dating back to Carter Hamill’s first-period response. Hayward had three assists by the end of the match, while Salisbury had two. Lightning’s six second-period goals came from six different scorers, and the home side recorded 15 shots on goal to Peterborough’s two in those 20 minutes.
Peterborough supplied the final-period scoring. Rais Francis cut the deficit at 41:21, assisted by Adam Berg and Henry Newell. Ferrara then scored his second at 43:25 from Dillon Lawrence and Bradley Bowering to make it 10-3. The Phantoms had found two replies after a difficult middle period, but there were no further goals from either side. Lightning recorded 22 shots on goal in the third period to Peterborough’s two, bringing the match totals to 48 and 13 respectively.
The result gave Lightning two NIHL National points. Their response to Peterborough’s early equaliser established the first-period lead; six further goals after the break put the result beyond the visitors before Francis and Ferrara reduced the final margin.
Source: Official NIHL National gamesheet.
Scoring summary
MK Lightning: Danny Weight 2+1, Jarred White 2+0, Kell Beattie 1+1, Mack Stewart 1+1, David Thomson 1+1, Liam Stewart 1+1, Cameron Hamill 1+0, Carter Hamill 1+0, Sean Norris 0+4, Jake Hayward 0+3, Archie Salisbury 0+2, Harry Gulliver 0+1, Ed Knaggs 0+1, Milique Martelly 0+1, Bradey Johnson 0+1.
Peterborough Phantoms: Luke Ferrara 1+1, Dillon Lawrence 1+0, Rais Francis 1+0, Janne Laakkonen 0+2, Adam Berg 0+1, Billy Thorpe 0+1.
First Published by Milton Keynes Lightning mk-lightning.co.uk
Photo credits: Tony Sargent
