It was honours even for the two teams at the top of the SNL as Kirkcaldy Kestrels and Edinburgh Capitals SNL shared the points in a 4-4 draw.
Just four points separate the top five places after a winner couldn’t be found at Fife Ice Arena, despite three goals in the final ten minutes that could have seen the points head either side of the Forth.
Mark Patterson was first on the scoresheet as the Capitals went in front before he added a second minutes into the middle period, but Conor Duncan pulled one back seconds later.
Sean Cochrane levelled the game early in the third, but Duncan’s second of the night gave Kestrels the lead once again.
Caps levelled through Joel Gautschi, before Patterson completed his hat-trick as the contest started to edge in favour of the visitors.
But Daryl Venters kept at least one point in Kirkcaldy with his goal to make it 4-4 and set up a thrilling title battle in 2016.
Paisley Pirates kept their 100% home record as they edged Dundee Comets 2-1 in a tense affair to move ahead of them in the SNL table.
It took Pirates 16 minutes to open the scoring as Scott Cowan was fed by Martyn Guy, who put him through on Comets’ netminder Matthew Michie to slip the puck past him for the opening goal.
Comets hit back in the opening seconds of the middle period as Lewis McIntosh caught the Pirates defence out and the game was tied at 1-1.
Both teams fought hard to get the breakthrough and it took until the last ten minutes when Stuart Miller scored on the backhand after Paisley had enjoyed a good spell of pressure.
Comets continued to create chances as they tried to get themselves back into the game, but Ian Turley’s side held out for an important win.
Alan Maitland’s four goals closed the gap on the teams at the top as they roared to a 6-3 victory over Aberdeen Lynx at Auchenharvie.
It took the Wild hitman just over a minute to open the scoring, but the home side found themselves level as Iain Malcolm equalised.
Lynx went ahead just minutes later through Jamie Vincent, despite them having a much shorter bench than normal, but Maitland soon tied things up.
He completed his hat-trick early in the second period while Aberdeen continued to make a fight of it as Mark Laing added his name to the scoresheet.
But the difference in numbers became more apparent as Maitland struck for a fourth time, with Daniel Abercrombie adding two more to clinch another big home win for Wild, who are now a point behind Lynx in the league table.
(Image permission: Gordon Venters)
