Leeds Knights: Kieran Brown breaks 100-point barrier as Knights post perfect NIHL National weekend return
KIERAN BROWN rightly took the plaudits after breaking of the 100-point barrier for the season - but he will have taken just as much satisfaction with it being accompanied by a maximum points haul for him and his Leeds Knights team-mates.
A comprehensive 7-3 win over Raiders IHC on Saturday night on home ice was followed by an equally-impressive performance on the road 24 hours later when Ryan Aldridge’s team came away from Peterborough Phantoms with both points in a 3-1 triumph.
It marked a second successive win over Slava Koulkiov’s side for the Knights, having beaten them after a shootout on home ice the previous weekend.
That victory was followed by a 5-1 defeat at Elland Road to Basingstoke Bison, but the Knights responded to that in positive fashion in their third straight home game on Saturday against a Raiders team who had lost five of their previous six games.
The Romford-based visitors had arrived in West Yorkshire having beaten Bees 5-2 the previous Sunday but there was little prospect of that being repeated after they found themselves 3-0 down at the end of the first period.
Lewis Baldwin got the ball rolling at 3.43, Brown’s landmark moment coming at 18.02 when setting up Adam Barnes to make it 2-0.
Cole Shudra extended the lead with 10 seconds remaining and although Aaron Connolly reduced the deficit with a shorthanded marker at 26.05 the Knights were 5-1 to the good after 40 minutes through a Matty Davies double.
Two goals in three minutes from Jake Sylvester gave the Raiders hopes of an unlikely comeback, but those aspirations were quickly dashed when Brown responded within a minute of Sylvester’s second goal to restore the hosts’ three-goal lead, then 20-year-old making it a memorable four-point night with his second of the game at 55.24.
On Sunday, it was a double from Brown’s former Bradford Bulldogs’ team-mate Barnes which proved key to the Knights’ success.
Barnes opened the scoring at 21.21 but the teams entered the final 20 level after a 29th-minute reply from Glenn Billing.
The crucial go-ahead goal came in the 51st minute, however, Barnes doubling his tally before Shudra made sure of the win with an empty-net marker with just 40 seconds remaining.