BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Bison currently are enduring contrasting fortunes home and away in the EPL. On the road the Bison have won six straight to set a new club record for them in this league, while at home their last two games have seen them shut-out.
So moving the total to three for the current campaign after going two league seasons without being shut-out at home, only in the play-offs.
Last weekend, for the second time this season it was the Milton Keynes Lightning who shut them out.
Firs time around it was netminder Alex Mettam who made 38 saves in a 1-0 win and this time Barry Hollyhead turned away 37 shots for a 2-0 success.
In the final period of that game, visiting MK were outshot 17-2 and the second of those shots was an empty netter scored by defenseman Ross Green.
He cleared the puck from his own end zone in the final minute, but it came off the side boards by the sin bin at the perfect angle to send it into the empty net.
Earlier in the contest, Leigh Jamieson scored in the opening minute of the second period with a super wrist shot.
“We have out played them and out shot them, but at the moment at home we just cannot buy a goal. We will continue to work hard and I am sure it will come. “The last thing we want to do is put pressure on ourselves as we are scoring on the road,” Bison player/coach Moria said.
The 2-0 reverse to MK came hot on the heels of a 5-0 defeat to Manchester in which Stephen Fone made 39 saves.
The Herd will now hope to end their goal drought when they face Slough Jets on Sunday.
The omens are good as the Bison won the last encounter 7-3 and when the teams last played in Basingstoke, the Jets won 7-6.
On the road is a whole different story for the Bison as a 5-3 victory last Saturday over the Swindon Wildcats was their sixth away win on the trot.
That said, a lot of it came down to goaltender Stephen Wall who had been devastated after the Manchester home loss.
In Swindon, he kept his side in the game for the first 30 minutes and even saved a penalty shot from Czech forward Jaroslav Cesky.
With the score at 3-1 Bison boss Moria called a time out and his Slovak defenseman Marcel Petran with one of his trademark blue line bullets made it 3-2.
This added to Bison power forward Chris Wiggins first period strike which was his first of the season for Basingstoke’s top penalty taker.
The final period then belonged to the visitors as Tony Redmond scored his second of the season and further goals from Moria on the powerplay and Viktor Kubenko shorthanded ensured the win.
So this meant ex-Bison goalie Dean Skinns was unable to get one over on his former team mates as his faced the Bison for the first time since his December exit from the team. The Herd now have the daunting prospect of trying to continue their road winning streak as they travel to Milton Keynes on Saturday.
So far this season MK have enjoyed four straight wins over the Bison and on their last two visits the Herd have been close losing 4-2 and 4-1, with the last goal in each game being an empty netter.
It will be made even more difficult as this week MK gassed Juraj Grasik and replaced him with Finnish winger Tuomas Tikkanen.
He arrives in Buckinghamshire after a spell in France and expected to slot straight into the line-up on the MK’s top scoring line alongside Blaz Emersic and Jamieson.
“I expect Milton Keynes to forecheck harder than they did in our building and having a new guy in the line-up is always a boost.
“But we have played well against them this season even if the results do not suggest that and I want to get at least one win over MK this season, so hopefully this will be our time,” Moria said.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
