In week two of the NIHL Play Off’s the Swindon Wildcats got defeated twice by the Romford Raiders.
However on Sunday night the Cats did take a point back to Swindon after losing on penalty shots, meaning its all to play for going into the final Play Off weekend.
On Saturday despite dominating for large periods of the game the Raiders defended a 2-3 victory with Ethan James being the star for the Romford side.
And on Sunday it was a game of momentum with the Raiders coming back from three goals to win on penalty shots.
Coach Nell said “It could well be a big point in the end but at 3-0 up we should be killing that game off.”
“We have to move on, there is still another weekend to play, win the two games next week and we know we are through to Coventry” Said Aaron.
The Wildcats play their final home game at the Link Centre this coming Saturday against the Telford Tigers in what is a huge game to get to the final four at Coventry.
It will also be Stevie Whitfield and Russ Cowley’s last game at the Link Centre for the Swindon Wildcats as they are retiring at the end of this season so lets make sure we give them a great send off.
Game Report Saturday night:
It was the perfect start for the Wildcats with some good work from Pakozdi who found Bullas and he bundled the puck past James inside 40 seconds.
The Cats carried on this pressure but couldn’t extend their lead and got punished at 4:31 with Laishram finding space and firing it past Marr to tie it up. Assisted by Anderson.
Romford then got a five on three powerplay opportunity and took full advantage with Milton firing the puck over Marr’s shoulder and into the back of the net to give the Raiders the lead.
End of the first period: Wildcats 1-2 Raiders
It would be the Romford side who started the second period the better with Anderson and Laishram linking up once again. A lovely fake shot pass from Anderson found Laishram who ripped it into the net to extend their lead to two.
The Wildcats then got a five on three opportunity of their own but James made three brilliant saves to keep his side in front at the half way mark.
The Wildcats did manage to get one back though soon after with Pakozdi playing a lovely one-two with Tower and redirecting it into the net at 31:28.
End of the second period: Wildcats 2-3 Raiders
The final period saw the Raiders defend for their lives with Wells and Dewey making two big blocks in the crease to stop the Wildcats equalizing. James also made some solid saves to deny Billing and Malasinski.
Milton then received a 5+game for spearing giving the Wildcats one last chance to try and tie the game up however with some more resolute defending from the Raiders, they managed to kill the five minute penalty and take home the two points.
End of the game: Wildcats 2-3 Raiders
James and Pakozdi took the MOTM award with both players performing best for their retrospective teams.
Game report Sunday night:
Just like the Saturday, the Wildcats started the game strong with some good forechecking, Shaw did well to win the puck and found Sayers whose shot was initially saved but Billing was their to fire home the rebound.
The rest of the period saw some good penalty killing from the Wildcats with Plews making some big blocks to deny Connolly and Laishram.
End of the first period: Raiders 0-1 Wildcats
The Cats doubled their lead early into the second period with Jones finding Nell and he rifled the puck into the top corner past James at 22:11.
The Wildcats then used this momentum and scored once again, this time some really good battling from Pakozdi who passed to Lubwele in the slot and he squeezed it through James at 27:02.
However the home side slowly battled back into the game and got rewarded with Relfs shot from the blue line finding the bottom right corner to get the hosts on the board.
With momentum now swung in the Raiders direction they scored again just after the Wildcats killed a penalty. Sylvester finding space on the edge of the circle and firing the puck into the top corner.
End of the second period: Raiders 2-3 Wildcats
Romford started the third putting on a lot of pressure and tied it up at 42:36 with Prevost sneaking the puck past Marr and into the back of the net.
It would be Prevost again causing chaos as his shot which was initially saved by Marr rebounded to Sylvester and he fired it into the net to grab his second and give the Raiders the lead for the first time in the game.
The Cats did slowly battle back into the game and got a three on two opportunity. Bebris found some space and sniped it bottom corner past James to level it up once again at four.
End of regulation: Raiders 4-4 Wildcats
With both teams securing at least a point it would be overtime/penalty shots to decide who takes the extra point.
The overtime period saw both teams just cancelling each other out with no big chances being created and that saw the game go to penalty shots.
Laishram and Billing were the only players from each team to score in first five rounds of penalty shots meaning it went to sudden death.
And it would be Laishram who scored again with Malasinski just missing the target meaning the Raiders took maximum points this weekend and the Wildcats getting one.
End of the game: Raiders (OT) 5-4 Wildcats
Make sure to get your tickets for the final home game of the season against the Telford Tigers and be loud and proud to support the boys.
