The Raiders brought their “A” game to both of the weekend’s fixtures with the form book suggesting it could be a difficult pair of fixtures.
For Saturday’s home encounter three “tied” games against Telford already this season suggested it would be another close encounter. The first period shot count of 21-4 in Raiders favour told the story of how energised the home team were. A 1-0 first break lead was scant reward for the on ice domination and perhaps gave the first indicator that Brad Day in the Tigers net would pick up man of the match.
By the mid way point however it was 2-2 with Eriksson and Tjay Anderson on target for the Raiders and Luca and a short handed Sutton goal levelling the game. Adam Laishram’s long distance snipe let the lads dwell on a single goal lead in the second break.
The third period was a far more cagey affair and it was clear half way through that this game could be decided by the empty net gamble from the Tigers to force the game to the 4th overtime in 4 games. When the inevitable pulled netminder occured the advantage was lost as Telford’s Peca was called for a disputed hooking penalty which could have resulted in a penalty goal. In the end an accurate half rink shot from Coy Prevost sealed the scoring in the empty net with the clock above reading 59:59.
Sunday’s journey to Sheffield came with the intriguing back story of Sheffield beating Swindon in Wiltshire on Friday night by 2-0 and being one of the few teams to take points out of Swindon since the rink re-opened in December. Rarely has the form book been inverted and shaken so vigorously.
Raiders were clearly not swayed by that result as Adam Laishram responded to Lee Haywood’s hooking penalty with the opening goal after three minutes. By the first break Raiders were already 3-0 up.
Raiders kept up their recent style of relentless pressure and added a further 4 goals in the second period and relaxed a little in the third for just the two with Steeldogs Jonathan Phillips breaking Ethan James’s heart and shut out to give a final score of 1-9.
Hattricks for Jake Sylvester and Jesper Eriksson didn’t detract from the all round goal scoring threat as Milton, Anderson and Laishram all contributed. Zach Milton’s 1+5 being the top individual score for the evening. Sylvester’s 3 goal haul was a fitting way to celebrate his 300th appearance for the Raiders, and Jesper Erikssons trio suggest he is settling in fine and getting to grips with the UK game and his new team.
With Bees and Sharks both picking up good results over the weekend the three teams are tied on 37 points in the battle for 7th 8th and 9th and the final play off place. Tigers are just 4 points ahead of this battle having lost both their games this weekend. Raiders have a game in hand over all these teams but will need to take that game to Solway and Leeds next weekend if they wish to make the leap before Solway visit Romford on Sunday 3rd March.
