Tigers Tamed by Wild

The Dundee Tigers recent run of form came crashing to an end on Saturday night as the North Ayrshire Wild twice came from behind to record victory.

The game could not have got off to a better start for the hosts as Ross Bree finished off the simplest of chances in the very first shift. Just 2 minutes later Kris Phillips doubled the Tigers advantage as he took control of the puck behind the Wild net and slid home a nifty wraparound effort. The Wild reduced the deficit in the 12th minute as Alan Maitland redirected the puck past Ciaran Hoggan on the Powerplay before Gary Warley, making his second debut for the Tigers, smashed home the puck to restore the 2 goal advantage and complete the period’s scoring.

The second session got underway with the Wild showing a noticeable increase in tempo. It took until just short of the mid point in the period before Maitland got his, and the Wild’s, 2nd of the night with another tipped effort. By the 32nd minute the game was all tied up as Ryan Parkin Found the net much to the frustration of the home crowd. With fewer than 4 minutes left to play in the period Tigers re-took the lead as Paul Guilcher skilfully beat the Wild keeper, finding a gap to fire the puck home through the 5-hole and ensure the Tigers ended he period with a 1 goal advantage.

With 2 very valuable points at stake it was unfortunate that the Tigers started the final stanza with a man disadvantage, as Paul Guilcher found himself in the box. The penalty was killed successfully but just as Tigers were re-grouping Martin Cardno found space at the back door to slot home and level the score at 4 apiece. A Tigers time out looked like it had settled the nerves and a hard fought draw looked on the cards but Maitland wasn’t done for the night and laser guided snapshot from just inside the blueline with less than 3 minute to go saw the Wild take the lead for the first time in the game. Despite some desperate activity from the Tigers as the seconds ticked by the visitors held strong and travelled back to the west coast with the 2 SNL points safely in the bag.

Final Score: Tigers 4 – Wild 5

Tigers MOM: John Robertson