| 05/05/02 Knights v Swindon Panthers |
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| This
game, the first home face-off for the Knights after two away defeats was
to be a tough challenge. The Swindon team were delayed due to an
unscheduled stop, which lead to a delayed face-off. This, for the first
period was to the Knights advantage. With minutes of the play deep in the
Swindon end they seemed to be unable to clear the zone under pressure,
however the Knights could not take full advantage. The play was more even
than the period score showed as the puck travelled from one end to the
other with both netminders seeing almost even shots, 12 on Swindon and 14
on Invicta. The score however was 4-1 to Swindon after the first 20
minutes, with Swindon scoring twice before and twice after the Knights
goal by Neil
Ratcliffe, assisted by defencemen Darren Keen and
Tony Wood.
The second period was to be a different story as the Panthers found their legs after their extended journey. They seemed to score almost at will, racking up nine unanswered goals, all but one evenhanded, despite the Knights being shorthanded for over half of the period. The Panthers also had penalties but the Knights could not capitlalise . By the end of the second period the Panthers stretched their lead to a commanding 12 goals. Into the third and the knights regrouped and rallied to stop the onslaught, conceding only four goals. The Knights again played shorthanded for most of the period through a series of penalties which left little chance for a sustained offence. With the Knights netminder Hass Baig facing twice as many shots as his Swindon counterpart at 57, the Knights could do nothing to ease the scoreline.
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