Leeds Knights salvage weekend with come-from-behind 12-goal thriller
THEY may have left it late but Leeds Knights salvaged their weekend with a come-from-behind win to salvage their weekend double-header against Milton Keynes Lightning.
Trailing 5-4 with just over six minutes to go at The Castle, it looked like the Knights would suffer the same fate as the previous evening when they were well-beaten 5-1 in Milton Keynes.
But goals from Owen Sobchak, Liam Peyton and Matt Bissonnette turned the game on its head to secure a 7-5 win.
It keeps them 13 points behind leaders Swindon Wildcats - who banked a four-point weekend - with 16 games to play.
Earlier in the evening, the Knights were good value for a 3-1 lead with 25 minutes gone with strikes by Balint Pakozdi, Sobchak and Bissonnette.
But as was the case the previous night, a defensive collapse saw the Lightning take control, taking a 4-3 lead through a second of the night from former Knights forward Mac Howlett, before further strikes from Toms Rutkis and Harry Gulliver - all in the space of just over two minutes.
Finley Bradon levelled at 38.55 with the Knights’ third power play goal of the game, but the hosts found themselves trailing when Jordan Cownie put the visitors ahead again with their own goal on the man advantage early in the third.
But Leeds were able to save their best until the last.
Leeds were good value for going in at 0-0 at the first intermission at Milton Keynes, but their night went south when they conceded four goals in as many minutes to leave them floundering just before the halfway mark.
Jordan Cownie broke the deadlock when he raced clear after a turnover on the Lightning blue line before firing past Sam Gospel at 24.12.
Just over two minutes later, Dominik Gabaj doubled the lead with a shorthanded strike, before the home fans were required to get to their feet twice in the space of 10 seconds.
Cownie doubled his tally at 28.49 before the moment the Lightning faithful had been waiting for came when Mac Howlett pounced to score against the team he left just over two weeks ago.
Oli Endicott got the Knights on the board with a well-worked power play goal at 37.43, but the game was done, the hosts adding salt into the wound when Sean Norris made it 5-1 on the power play with 50 seconds remaining.