Milton Keynes Lightning were unable to recover from going two goals behind when they went down 4-1 to Peterborough Phantoms in the National Autumn Cup on Sunday.
MK welcomed back Adam Laishram after his absence on Saturday but were still under strength with the continued absences of Liam Stewart, Sam Russell and back-up goalie Matt Smital. They soon found they were behind, conceding a delayed penalty goal to Ales Padelek on 2mins 45secs after captain Russ Cowley was called for tripping.
The game was five minutes old Tom Norton clashed with Sean Norris – both receiving fighting penalties – the Peterborough man also earning an extra two minutes in the sin bin.
Before the conclusion of the first period Phantoms made it 2-0 thanks a Luc Johnson assisted goal from Duncan Speirs at 16mins 57secs. That scoreline became 3-0 when – in a repeat of the previous evening – MK conceded within a minute of the restart. This time Padelek was on target again within 36 seconds, supplied by former Milton Keynes player, Glenn Billing.
The deficit became a mountain to climb just over two minutes later thanks to a fourth Phantoms goal – Ross Clarke setting Nathan Long up to score at 22mins 42secs.
Despite consecutive high stick penalties for Phantoms’ Jasper Foster and Billing there was no joy for MK on the resulting powerplays. Bobby Chamberlain was the subject of the final penalty of the second session, being despatched to the cooler for roughing with just under two minutes to go but the visitors were able to survive that and two further calls on Chamberlain for holding and slashing midway through the final period.
Lightning eventually ensured they would not go home shut-out thanks to a bench minor penalty on Phantoms for too many men. On the powerplay Leigh Jamieson made the pass for Chamberlain to defeat goalie Jordan Marr in 55mins 6secs to make it 4-1.
