Manchester Storm 4 Ayr Eagles 3
ALISON Bugg's magic fingers massaged Manchester Storm to a sensational victory at the M.E.N. Arena last night (Sunday).
The Storm physio was treating defenceman Kayle Short for cramp with the match poised at 3-3 and less than three minutes left on the clock.
His legs revitalised, Short jumped back on the ice, picked up the puck on the red line, skated in and cannoned it past Ayr netminder Joachim Gage.
It was the match-winning goal - a strike of the highest quality - and took Storm's unbeaten run to five games.
''It was tough out there because with Dan Preston injured we were down to four defencemen,'' said coach Daryl Lipsey after his team had twice come from behind to claim victory.
''Shorty was getting a massage on the bench because he had cramp. The next minute he's back on the ice scoring a goal like that.
''That was a great shot, an NHL shot, because Gage is an excellent netminder. It had to be good to beat him.''
Special
It needed something special to separate these teams who had battled out a 1-1 draw the previous night in Scotland.
Before they knew it, Storm were two goals down and up against it.
The first came in the third minute while they were on the powerplay when Stevie Lyle delivered the puck straight onto Jonathan Weaver's stick and the Storm old boy made no mistake.
A couple of minutes later it was 2-0 when Johan Silverplatz's shot was deflected in off Kris Miller's stick.
Storm battled back and their reward came in the 17th minute when Ivan Matulik finished off a goalmouth scramble by guiding the puck past Gage from close range.
The second period was littered with penalties but Storm got the break they wanted with a five on three powerplay for two minutes in the 37th minute - and Mark Bultje obliged.
Mike Jickling put Ayr ahead again but that lead lasted just 20 seconds when Russ Romaniuk found the net to set up Short's classic winner.
Storm are back in action next weekend when they travel to Sheffield on Saturday before entertaining champions Belfast on Sunday (5 0).
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