NIHL National leaders Leeds Knights see lead cut as Sheffield Steeldogs and Hull Seahawks suffer Sunday setbacks

HOT SHOT: Leeds Knights' Grant Cooper gets in a shot on the Telford Tigers' goal during Saturday's NIHL National clash at Elland Road. Picture courtesy of Oliver Portamento.

LEEDS KNIGHTS may have seen their lead at the top of the NIHL National standings reduced to one point – but they are still the only team yet to be beaten in regulation.

The Knights bounced back from only their second defeat of the season – a 3-2 loss to Telford Tigers after a shoot-out on home ice – in the best way possible, a second-period goal blitz handing them a 5-1 victory over the same opponents on the road 24 hours later.

The Knights’ only other taste of defeat came two weeks ago in overtime at the hands of Milton Keynes Lightning, who closed the gap at the top to one point after three wins in as many nights.

Cole Shudra stole the show for the Knights against Telford, following up his two goals on Saturday with a hat-trick and an assist in Shropshire.

MATCH-WINNER: Vladislavs Vulkanovs was the only success story during the shoot-out in Swindon, earning his Sheffield Steeldogs' team a 6-5 win. Picture courtesy of PEter Best/Steeldogs Media.

Trailing to a Jason Silverthorn first-period strike at Saint Quentin Gate, the Knights came out flying in the middle section, Shudra firing his team into a 3-1 lead before captain Kieran Brown and Zach Brooks completed the job.

Sheffield Steeldogs let a 5-2 lead slip at Swindon Wildcats to leave themselves at the mercy of a shoot-out. Thankfully they prevailed, Vladislavs Vulkanovs scoring the only goal from nine shoot-out attempts.

Earlier, Alex Graham (2), Cam Brownley (2) and Matt Bissonnette had put the visitors into a seemingly commanding position at 5-2 up inside 35 minutes.

But Swindon hit back swiftly through Balint Pakozdi and Floyd Taylor before the end of the second. It looked like the visitors would hang on to their lead, however, as the final minute approached.

But their defences were breached for a fifth time by Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell with 85 seconds remaining in regulation.

Thankfully, though, the Steeldogs were to prevail in the shootout thanks to Vulkanovs to secure two vita points.

It looked like the Steeldogs would go on to enjoy a four-point weekend when they took the lead through Tom Palmer in their lunchtime clash at Ice Sheffield against Peterborough Phantoms the following day.

But Palmer’s 24th-minute strike was quickly rubbed out by Alex Padelek’s reply before Glenn Billing put the visitors in front soon after.

Padelek doubled his tally and the Phantoms’ lead at 55.54 before former Steeldogs’ forward Duncan Speirs made sure of the two points with an empty-net strike.

Andrej Themar marked his long-awaited Hull Seahawks debut with a goal but it couldn’t prevent a 5-2 defeat to Milton Keynes.

The Seahawks matched the in-form visitors blow for blow up until the halfway point, initally taking the lead through an early strike from captain Sam Towner before falling behind to goals from Hull-born Bobby Chamberlain and Hallden Barnes-Garner.

But Themar got his account up and running when equalising at 27.21 to give fans hope of seeing their team pick up a win on home ice for the second week running.

But those hopes took a knock when Deivids Sarkanis put the Lightning ahead again at 33.46, their grip strengthened late in the third through his second of the game at 56.48 before he completed his hat-trick with an empty netter with 32 seconds remaining on the clock.