Basingstoke Bison came away with a win and a loss against Sheffield and Milton Keynes over the weekend.
Bison retain their third place position in the English Ice Hockey Premier League, leading the Slough Jets by two points.
On the Saturday, the Herd hosted eighth place Sheffield Steeldogs at the Basingstoke Arena.
With a season tally against Sheffield of two wins in two games, Bison showed no sign of slipping up, coming away with a 5-3 victory.
Steve Moria’s side welcomed back Sam Oakford and Ciaran Long who were absent last week from injury.
Repeating a pattern seen in most Bison wins, it was the visitors who opened the scoring.
Steeldogs forward Janis Ozolins’ strike hit the roof of the net, beating Bison netminder Dean Skinns.
But captain Moria levelled the score line shortly after in the first of his three-goal haul. A good run of play by Ricky Skene ended in a pass which Moria converted.
And Bison took the lead after Kurt Reynolds blasted the puck at netminder Ben Brown’s pads, which set up an easy rebound for Viktor Kubenko.
Sheffield then levelled the scores. Lloyd Gibson’s first shot was saved by Skinns, but the striker netted from the rebound.
Sheffield took the lead, with Ozolins netting his second. But, with less than one minute remaining, Ollie Bronnimann brought the score to 3-3.
With all to play for in the second period, it was Bison who took the early initiative. Lauko, Moria and Bronnimann all had chances denied.
After 13 minutes of play, the Bison made it 4-3 as Moria netted his second.
The final 20 saw the Steeldogs desperately fighting for an equaliser, but strong defence work shut out any attempts on goal.
In a desperate last minute bid to level the scores, the Steeldogs replaced Browns with an extra out skater. But a botched clearance by a defender gave Moria an easy open goal to secure his hat trick.
Any hopes of a clean sweep for Bison were dealt a crushing blow on Sunday away to Milton Keynes.
The 2-3 overtime loss meant Bison travelled home after coming up short in the penalty shootout.
The Herd started the game well, with Nicky Chinn posting the first goal within three minutes of starting. The lead was soon doubled with Bronnimann scoring shortly after.
But before the first 20 were up, the home side were level. Adam Brittle netted the goal, beating Bison man-of-the-match Dean Skinns.
Adam Carr levelled the scores shortly after.
Fans hoping for a high scoring game would have been disappointed as both the second and third periods remained goalless.
But strong performances from Skinns and Lightning netminder Barry Hollyhead denied multiple attempts on goal from both sides.
By the end of the 80 minutes the scores were tied at 2-2. A five minute sudden-death overtime also remained goalless.
In the penalty shootout, MK came out on top with Carr and Blaz Emersic beating Skinns.
But attempts from Bronniman and Ondrej Lauko were denied by Hollyhead.
Bison take on the Swindon Jets away on Saturday and Telford Tigers at home on Sunday.
