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Buzzer Report: Swindon Wildcats 4 Sheffield Steeldogs 3
Saturday evening saw Swindon Wildcats take the game to the wire at the Swindon Ice Arena, as overtime was required to separate two sides who went blow for blow from the off. Total Sport's Ben Callaghan was rink side...
After a great four point weekend the Cats took on the in-form Sheffield Steeldogs. It was an evening of celebrations with Lee Richardson making his 400th appearance for the Wildcats. Stevie Lyle returned between the pipes with Dalibor Sedlar in for Sheffield.
Swindon had an early chance on the powerplay when Stanislav Lascek took a tripping penalty. The Cats immediately took advantage Jonas Höög and Tomasz Malasinski linked up along the side boards to find Aaron Nell. Nell skated into the slot and fired under the arm of Sedlar at 2.28.
The Cats dominated the opening period outshooting the Dogs 14-7. Sedlar in particular forced to make strings of saves from Finucci, Kostal and Taylor. The Cats couldn't find a way to double their advantage. As the period died down Sheffield began to test Lyle more with Bosas and Korhon forcing the Cats keeper into back to back pad saves.
The second period appeared to be more of the same for Swindon when they doubled their lead at 23.46. Another powerplay move saw Aaron Nell and Jonas Höög link up to find the unmarked Malasinski at the back post to tap home for the Cats 2nd of the night. Sheffield stepped it up a gear and at 27:08 got their first of the evening.
Ashley Calvert found room in front of the net to deflect the puck under the pads of Lyle. 52 seconds later they tied the game up. In what was an exact replica of the move for the first goal, Sheffield worked hard along the boards and flicked a pass back into the slot for the on rushing Lee Haywood to fire through Lyle's legs.
Swindon took their timeout to regroup but it was the Dogs who were still creating the chances, Craig Elliott and Stan Lascek testing Lyle. At 32.07 the Dogs took the lead, Stan Lascek and Lewis Bell linked up with Liam Charnock tipping the puck into the top right hand corner.
Swindon settled down again and started to create more chances again with Tomasz Malasinski hitting the post. At 37.23 Swindon tied the game up through Jonas Höög. Malasinski and Nell linked up to find the on rushing Höög at the back post to fire into the gaping net.
The third period was incredibly end to end with stellar netminding on show from both sides. Dalibor Sedlar made two stunning saves in particular to deny Tomasz Malasinski. With less than 2 minutes to play Stevie Lyle blocked a shot in front of the game to ensure the Cats had done enough to take the game to overtime, where both teams would play for the bonus point.
Overtime is always a tense period but the Cats sealed the bonus point at 63:45. Jonas Höög and Neil Liddiard combined to find Aaron Nell in front of the net. The Cats player-coach batted the puck out of mid-air and into the back of the net and the celebrations began in earnest.
Swindon now look for their 4th win in a row when they head down to Bracknell on Sunday to take on the Bees.
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