Widnes Wild caused late drama in their 3-2 National Ice Hockey League North Division One game against Deeside Dragons as they threatened to fight back with two late goals.
At 3-0 down, two goals in the final 10 minutes of the game from Wild’s Jordan Jolly and captain Andrew Hopkins left the away team threatening overtime.
It was the second time the two teams came face to face over the weekend, with Dragons emerging victorious in both fixtures – 2-1 on Saturday and 3-2 on Sunday.
The teams were evenly matched in the first 20 minutes, playing out a stalemate period with no clear-cut chances for either team.
Despite the strong performance from netminder Luca Tessadri, it was a dejecting second period from a much-improved Wild team, who conceded three, having successfully held the Dragon’s until the third the previous evening.
Jolly added the fire back into his team when he finally broke past Jace Gledhill in the Dragons net, capitalising off a rebounded shot from forward Dani Haid on the 54-minute mark.
The second Widnes goal came moments later through Hopkins, who found himself in the perfect position to tap in a pass from Mikey Gilbert, giving the Wild one last push of energy as they searched for an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game.
Tensions had already risen inside the rink as the bitter rivals fought for victory in their fourth meeting of the season.
Wild took significant hits over the third period and found multiple players making their way to the penalty box to serve two-minute minors and handing Dragons the man advantage.
It was two goals from star Dragons forward Jake Witkowski, as well as one from their captain Jared Dickinson in the second period that meant the home team lead the game comfortably heading into the third.
The Dragons first goal went to Dickinson in the 27th minute who fired his shot from just inside the Wild third into the back of the net whilst the Dragons were on a powerplay after Wild’s Ben McLellan was sent to the penalty box on a minor for delaying the game.
A stunning show of skill from Dragons Witkowski gave the team their second in the 35th minute, as he handled the puck past the Wild defence with speed and ease to slot the puck past Tessadri in the Wild net.
Witkowski’s second goal, and the Dragons third, came in the final seconds of the period and was although it wasn’t the same level of skill as hist first, the powerplay goal turned out to be the difference between the two local teams.
