Flames overcome league leaders

Flames overcome league leaders

The Flames finally found the key to grounding the Milton Keynes Lightning in the form of a significant 2nd period shot advantage and 3 unanswered goals to collect a 4-2 win; the first win in 5 starts against the league’s leading side.  The home team opened well with a Gary Clarke marker at 6:53.  The Lightning replied to the opener less than 30 seconds later through Monir Kalgoum to even the score, then added a Michael Wales powerplay goal at 9:22 to take a lead that they held for the remainder of the period.  In the 2nd, Martin Masa pulled the Flames back level at 25:23 on the powerplay before Nathan Rempel finished a 2 on 1 break, opting to shoot himself and slipping the puck under Barry Hollyhead from in close for a 3-2 Flames lead.  Jez Lundin doubled the margin 31 seconds before the period clock timed out then helped his team through a scoreless closing period to generate the win. 

 

24 hours earlier, for the 3rd consecutive occasion, the Slough Jets were the opponents.  The pattern of trading wins in the compressed series continued as the Jets shook off a 4-2 cup semi final loss 48 hours prior to send the Flames back home with a 4-1 defeat in league play.  Blaz Emersic, quickly becoming a Flames pest, was at it again with his 2nd hattrick in the 3 meetings so far.  The Slovenian forward opened the scoring at the 5 minute mark and then doubled the lead with another, the game winner as things turned out, at 12:19.  They added two more in the middle frame with a Peter Poljacek strike ahead of another Emersic marker, this time shorthanded, to complete 40 minutes with a 4-0 lead.  The Flames tallied their only offence in the final period when Lukas Smital scored in the 48th minute to complete the scoring without impacting the ultimate result. 

 

Flames Head Coach Paul Dixon was impressed with Sunday but was still scratching his head over an unexplainable performance in Slough:

 

“If somebody was forcing us to pick only one of those games, we definitely picked the right one to win.  We have not turned MK over yet this season so it was nice to not only win, but to play a game that really resembles the ability we have and give the indication that we will be able to play with them in any key situations down the road if that is what circumstances dictate.  We played full intensity from start to finish and arrived at the rink like a team on a mission to get the points and we did.  For that we are very pleased.  However, in that context, you ask yourself, where was that the night before?  In Slough, only a couple of days after a strong cup semi win against the same team, we turned up absolutely not ready to play.  With the exception of perhaps the last 10 minutes of the game we were definitely the 2nd best team on the ice.  Consistency is the name of the game and somehow we need to get Sunday’s level in our mindset ahead of the 2nd leg of the cup this week and the run into the playoff championship.”

 

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11th February 2012 19:00
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11th February 2012 19:15
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12th February 2012 00:00
6-2
5th February 2012 18:30
4-5
5th February 2012 18:00
2-4
5th February 2012 17:00
6-1
4th February 2012 19:30
4-1
4th February 2012 19:00
6-2
4th February 2012 19:00
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Belfast Giants 41 33 8 3 167 83 69
2 Nottingham Panthers 40 30 10 2 182 87 62
3 Sheffield Steelers 35 30 5 0 133 77 60
4 Coventry Blaze 40 25 15 1 153 113 51
5 Cardiff Devils 39 20 19 10 124 112 50
6 Braehead Clan 39 22 17 2 146 127 46
7 Hull Stingrays 41 11 30 4 107 165 26
8 Edinburgh Capitals 38 11 27 3 89 170 25
9 Dundee Stars 40 7 33 5 95 163 19
10 Fife Flyers 39 7 32 5 79 178 19
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3-0
5th February 2012 18:30
4-2
5th February 2012 18:00
6-3
5th February 2012 17:30
6-8
5th February 2012 17:30
3-0
4th February 2012 19:30
1-3
4th February 2012 19:00
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Guildford Flames 38 26 12 3 172 111 55
2 Manchester Phoenix 39 24 15 3 145 123 51
3 Slough Jets 37 24 13 2 167 117 50
4 Sheffield Steeldogs 38 22 16 4 119 101 48
5 Milton Keynes Lightning 37 22 15 1 116 99 45
6 Basingstoke Bison 38 21 17 2 135 126 44
7 Swindon Wildcats 39 15 24 5 126 134 35
8 Bracknell Bees 37 13 24 8 107 142 34
9 Peterborough Phantoms 38 14 24 2 123 164 30
10 Telford Tigers 39 9 30 2 106 199 20
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
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