Autocraft Telford Tigers returned to home ice to take on league leaders Swindon Wildcats after a disappointing performance on the road had seen them lose to Milton Keynes Lightning 7-5.
The scoreline made it seem like the game was close but Tigers had not performed and in truth, were well beaten. Swindon had only suffered one loss this season and that was in overtime so they had taken points from all nine games they had played so far and led the league by three points.
The deadlock was broken in the first period with Swindon’s first power play of the night. Patrick Brown was called for high sticking and just eleven seconds into the power play, Aaron Nell scored.
Brown didn’t heed the lesson of the first penalty and was called later in the period for tripping. Swindon took advantage of the extra attacker again and scored through Logan Vande Meerakker.
It was harsh on Telford to be behind by two goals and late in the period they got a goal back. Brown scored a superb goal from a tight angle with a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle.
A goalless second period left Tigers chasing the game in the final twenty minutes.
Just twenty six seconds into the third period, Tigers were level. A Danny Rose shot from the blue line appeared to deflect off a Swindon defender and go in off the post.
Tigers then took their first lead of the night when Deakan Fielder picked out Brown with a precise pass allowing Brown to redirect the puck into the open net.
Swindon hit back five minutes later when Vande Meerakker passed to the unmarked Glenn Billing who hammered a shot past Brad Day from the slot to tie the game up.
With both teams pushing for the winner, it would be the home side who scored next. Brynley Capps fought his way through the Swindon defence and forced the puck past Renny Marr in the Swindon goal.
The Wildcats had three minutes to get back level and threw everything at the Tigers’ goal but Day stood tall and the defence held out to send Swindon to their first regulation loss of the season.
Final Score: Autocraft Telford Tigers 4 Swindon Wildcats 3.
Scorers: Kieran Brown (2), Danny Rose and Brynley Capps.
Man of the match: Caelan McPhee.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “What a big win that was. I am pleased for the whole team, they put a lot into the game and it was great to bounce back and pick up two points against a Swindon team who have had a solid start to the season. They are well organised, well coached and very difficult to breakdown and hard to create quality chances against.
“We stuck with it when we were two goals down and worked to improve our forecheck and force some turnovers we could look to capitalise on. It could have gone either way this evening, but coming from two goals behind we can be proud of how we managed the game.”