SWINDON Wildcats claimed a narrow win at the Link Centre as they defeated the Sheffield Steeldogs on penalty shots

Thomasz Malasinski, Robin Kovar, Lee Richardson and Jonas Hoog were all on target for the hosts as the game finished 4-4 in regular time.

The first period was a largely uneventful affair, the hosts enjoyed sporadic spells of pressure but never  made the most of the opportunities they did carve out.

Hoog showed neat hands on the right before flashing his effort just pass the post five minutes into the 20.

The Wildcats were then under pressure when Floyd Taylor and Robin Kovar were both handed two minute penalties for tripping.

With just three skaters on the ice it was a great chance for the visitors to get ahead and they almost did when the puck broke loose in front of Stevie Lyle’s goal, only for the netminder to make a stunning save.

The rest of the period played out at a similar pace, both sides were getting up and down the ice but neither were able to land the telling blow.

In the second period it was the visitors who started brightly with some early efforts peppering Lyle’s goal.

But it was the Wildcats who took the lead when Malasinski squeezed his effort past the Steeldogs netminder in the 29th minute.

Despite this they were pegged back almost immediately as Arnoldas Bosas made the most of a defensive mix-up to score less than a minute later.

It went from bad to worse for the home team as the Steeldogs, who were clearly full of confidence after their goal, added a second in the 31st minute.

A sweeping moot which stemmed from their defence worked its way all the way up the ice before Donatas Kumeliauskas applied the finish.

All looked lost for the Wildcats as the second period began to draw to a close but with eight seconds left to play Kovar popped up to score as the period ended 2-2.

The Wildcats failed to gain any momentum from their late equaliser as they trailed again at the beginning of the third period when Bosas claimed his second of the night.

Bosas caused all sorts of issues for the Wildcats, he was allowed to drive down the left before picking out an incoming Liam Kirk, who couldn't really miss to make it 4-2.

The fourth goal triggered the Wildcats player-coach to call a time-out and it had the desired impact when Richardson clawed his side to within a goal in the 48th minute

Hoog then completed the comeback two minutes later with a tidy finish low at the net to make it 4-4 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.

The sides couldn’t be separated in the 60 minutes or in overtime, meaning  Jan Kostal and Kovar were required to wrap up a penalty shot victory.