BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Bison snapped the club’s worst losing streak since joining the EPL when they won by the odd goal in seven at Manchester Phoenix on Sunday night.
It completed an impressive record for the Herd in the Manchester’s barn of two consecutive wins after losing the opening league encounter in overtime.
It did not look good for the visitors early on as the home side raced into a 2-0 lead as Slava Koulikov and Martin Cingel.
Bison man-of-the-match Viktor Kubenko then scored either side of the first break to level the match taking his tally for the weekend to four goals.
Former Phoenix player and leading Bison scorer Joe Miller netted his 14th of the season to then make it 3-2.
A great solo strike from Ladi Harabin saw him equalised just before the second break.
So it was left to Bison captain Nicky Chinn to net the game winner in the final session.
“ I think we were unfortunate to lose all four games. In Manchester we worked hard and we got some breaks,” said Basingstoke player/coach Steve Moria.
The previous night, the Herd suffered their fourth loss on the bounce as they grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory as they led 2-0 and 5-2 before losing 6-5 after a penalty shoot-out to the visiting Telford Tigers.
The Herd started brightly with Jacob Heron and a short handed marker from Kubenko putting them firmly in the driving.
However, Telford hit back as Josh Bruce with a powerplay strike and Scott McKenzie tied the game at the first break.
There was only one side in the contest in the middle session and that was the Bison as they scored three goals in four minutes from Marcel Petran, Kubenko and Daniel Volrab all scored.
Telford player/coach Tom Watkins called a time-out and they got to the break still trailing by three.
In the final period as netminder Declan Ryan keep the Bison at bay, his team mates netted three from nine shots thanks to Luke Brittle, Daniel Croft and McKenzie to send the game into overtime.
The Bison players and fans thought they had won the game in overtime as Joe Miller fired the puck into the roof of the night, but referee Petr Popluhar decided the puck had not gone in.
So the game was decided in a penalty shoot-out with Telford’s Juraj Senko netting the first, even if he scored with his second whack at the puck backing into netminder Dean Skinns.
After Kubenko and Moira had seen their shots saved, Miller converted the final Bison shot, but Marek Hornak scored to give his side victory.
“I still can’t work out how we lost this game after being 5-2 up,” said Moria.
This weekend, Basingstoke have just one game at home to the Sheffield Steeldogs.
The series so far between these sides is tied 1-1 with the team on home ice always coming out on top, but not by a lot as the 3-2 and 4-2 scorelines demonstrate.
With this being the Herd’s last game for 16 days it is twice as important that they win otherwise when they hit the ice again on Boxing Day they could well find themselves having slipped down the standings.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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