THREE goals in as many minutes during the middle period helped Swindon Wildcats secure a 6-3 victory against Bracknell Bees at the Link Centre.

Wildcats doubled their first period goal tally within four minutes of the second period starting as a brace from Edgars Bebris and a marker for Jordan Kelsall on his Cats return earned the home side a 6-0 lead.

Bees fought back when Shaun Thompson struck with a shorthanded marker at 24.31, but Aaron Nell’s men had already established a secure enough lead to see out the rest of the game.

Swindon welcomed Jordan Kelsall back to the bench a month after he was first sidelined with a leg injury as Cats seeked to burn off some energy built up from Friday night’s Autumn Cup Final first leg postponement.

They made the perfect start when Sam Godfrey opened the scoring with just over a minute played. Godfrey received an accurate pass to the blue line before ripping a shot past Bees netminder Danny Milton, who should’ve done better.

The lead was doubled when Max Birbraer threaded a pass across Milton’s goal, allowing Aaron Nell to score a routine back-door tap-in.

It was soon three as Jan Bendik’s defensive error allowed Nell to strike his second goal in less than two minutes.

Cats’ third marker prompted a change in approach on the Bees bench as the physical James Galazzi became involved in a brawl with Godfrey. Both players received two minutes for roughing while Floyd Taylor and Josh Martin were also boxed for the same offence.

Bees were dealt another blow when Barker was hit to the ice following a big hit by Birbraer.

The hit signalled the start of a three-minute period of domination for the hosts as Kelsall scored on his return before Bebris added goals five and six.

Shaun Thompson pegged Cats’ lead back to five with a smart shorthanded effort following a defensive mix-up as Bees enjoyed more possession and zone time in the second, but ultimately went without further reward.

Thompson continued to be a nuisance for Wildcats during the third period.

The forward broke down the right before forcing netmidner Renny Marr out of his crease. The consequent wraparound effort was only dragged across goal though.

Bebris missed a chance to bag his hat-trick before Nell swapped Marr for Matthew Smital in Swindon’s goal.

Josh Martin then scored the goal of the game for Bees with a superb one-man effort that saw the No.88 skate unchallenged into Cats’ zone before slotting a shot past a helpless Smital.

Bees struck for a third time with a minute to go when striking from close range after Smital appeared to lose sight of a bobbling puck.