Paisley Pirates barged their way into the title race in impressive style, as they triumphed 3-1 at home to Edinburgh Capitals SNL for their sixth win in a row in all competitions.
While Ian Turley’s men are third, they’re only four points behind Kirkcaldy Kestrels with three games in hand.
Chris Wilson opened the scoring for Pirates, before Bruce Tait equalised for the Caps on the powerplay to pull them level by the end of the second period.
Pirates retook the lead as Mark Hassan fired a low effort past Edinburgh goalie Craig Mallinson a couple of minutes into the final period.
Wilson (above) added his second of the night with a late empty-netter to maintain Pirates’ 100% home record.
Scott Henderson’s early goal looked to put Solway Sharks SNL on the right track at home to North Ayrshire Wild, but the roof caved in as the title challengers roared to a 14-1 victory.
Daniel Abercrombie wrapped up a hat-trick by the end of the opening period, along with goals from Martin Cardno and Alan Maitland.
The romp continued for Wild, who went the right way to exorcising their heavy loss against Paisley last week, adding another four goals in the middle session.
Two from Maitland, to complete his hat-trick, and one each Ross Couborough and Michael Dobson put the game beyond the hosts.
They rubbed salt into the wounds of the Sharks as Kenny Fleetham, Abercrombie with his fourth, another from Dobson and one each from Colin Henning and Ryan Parkin wrapped things up.
Moray Typhoons are without a win in five and remain in the bottom two, as Dundee Tigers opened up a three-point gap in the play-off places with a 7-1 home success.
John Robertson put Tigers 1-0 ahead in the opening period, but Typhoons drew level through Michael Ferguson early in the second.
Scott Marr, Daniel Topping and Grant Reekie gave the home side a healthy lead by the 40-minute mark, before goals by Ross Bree, Mark McLeod and Topping again killed the game off in final period.
Craig Findlay’s winner in the third period ensured a four-point league double as Aberdeen Lynx were beaten 3-2 by Dundee Comets.
The Tayside outfit had stunned Barry Carnegie’s men in a 5-0 home win just a couple of weeks ago and took the points again in front of a sell-out crowd in Aberdeen.
Lynx went two goals up inside the first 20 minutes, Mark Laing and Christian Johnson scoring in quick succession to start things positively.
Comets clawed their way back, finding the net just 41 seconds after the restart when Lewis McIntosh got his name on the scoresheet.
Robbie Hill levelled the game with a goal towards the end of the middle period, as Lynx couldn’t take their chances to keep hold of their lead.
Findlay struck five minutes into the third period to claim the win for the visitors and make it three wins in their last four, while the Lynx have now lost their last three.
WEEKEND RESULTS
Aberdeen Lynx 2-3 Dundee Tigers
Dundee Comets 7-1 Moray Typhoons
Paisley Pirates 3-1 Edinburgh Capitals SNL
Solway Sharks SNL 1-14 North Ayrshire Wild
(Image permission: Al Goold Photo)
