Telford Tigers’ perfect 10 as they find their goal-den touch
Telford Tigers put a bad run of form behind them to hit double figures in front of their own fans against Sheffield Steeldogs.
The Tigers – who went into Sunday’s match with just one win from their previous seven NIHL National League games – ran riot to record a 10-4 success.
Fin Howells led the way with four goals, while Vladimir Luka (two), Scott McKenzie, Rhodes Mitchell-King, James Smith and Jesse Sutton were also on target.
After the game, head coach Tom Watkins said: “I felt we didn’t get going until after the first period as we didn’t manage our play of the puck well enough and gave away a lot of odd man rushes and scoring chances.
“We were far better when we got into our structure, systems and puck movement.
“We established a strong forecheck moving our feet but turned over a number of pucks in our zone.
“We need to get in the habit of playing the right way every night, that means being tough to play against, solid defensively and focusing on having three players above the puck in all situations.”
After being shut out by Milton Keynes 24 hours earlier, Telford took less than a minute to open the scoring as they did their play-off hopes the world of good.
Howells’ low shot from the top of the right circle was his 100th goal for the club.
Sheffield got level with a goal straight from a face-off win, but three minutes later, Tigers were back in front.
A low shot from the blue line by Rhodes Mitchell-King surprisingly beat unsighted Sheffield netminder Dimitri Zimozdra.
Five minutes from the end of the period, Tigers had a third goal, capitalising on a power play as good passing between Archie Hazeldine and Howells allowed McKenzie to fire home from the slot.
Shortly after, a fourth goal followed. A powerful slap shot from Luka was saved by Zimozdra with his pads, but the rebound fell to Howells who shot into the open net.
Telford conceded just before the end of the period with some slack defending, but re-established their three-goal lead at the start of the second when Sutton scored off his own rebound from close range.
Two minutes later, Howells completed his hat-trick with a shot from the left circle that went through replacement Sheffield netminder Daniel Crowe.
Sheffield pulled a goal back through a long-range shot on a power play, but with Telford back to full strength, Tigers added a seventh as great play by Tom Byrne and Howells led to Luka skating in on goal and hammering a shot over Crowe’s shoulder.
Sheffield pulled another back early in the third period, but Telford hit straight back with Howells’ fourth of the game.
A ninth arrived when a shot from James Smith hit a Sheffield defender’s stick and bounced over Crowe’s outstretched arm.
And the home crowd got their wish for a 10th in the final minute when a fierce slap shot from Luka went through Crowe’s glove.
