A LANDMARK home crowd celebrated wildly last night as Braehead Clan battled back to claim a dramatic 4-3 win over Manchester Storm.
There were 3065 inside the Braehead Arena, thought to be the largest attendance for a regular season midweek game in the club’s history, who witnessed their team firstly go a goal up only to slip two behind, before a third period rally ensured a grandstand finish with a happy ending.
It took less than eight minutes for Braehead to take the lead. Alex Leavitt was played down the left on a quick counter-attack. He weaved his way across goal to shoot, only for Zane Kalemba to save. It wouldn’t be enough, though, as Matt Haywood was on hand to prod home the rebound from five yards.
However, the celebrations would prove to be short lived. Kalemba did well to deny Clan twice in quick succession, but just two minutes after taking the lead it was all square as Matt Paton sent the puck driving into Chris Holt’s net at the other end.
Braehead were by far the more dominant force in the early exchanges, but they struggled to take advantage of two cheap powerplays that were gifted to them by a Storm side who, despite their goal, failed to create much of a flurry on their first visit to Glasgow.
That was until the second period, though, when Clan didn't recover from a five-on-three in time to lose a powerplay goes just five seconds from being back to full strength. Omar Pacha smashed a low pass at Grant Toulmin, only for the Canadian to provide a neat flicked finish that spun over Holt and into the goal.
Things were to get worse for the thousands in the stands with just 90 seconds of the second period remaining as a poorly-defended play resulted in Matt Caria being allowed to loft the puck into the net unmarked at the edge of the crease.
Boos rang round the arena as the teams exited the ice as Ryan Finnerty had only 20 minutes to rally his team. Whatever he said during the final period, it had an instant impact as the deficit was cut in half within 12 seconds of the restart, Stefan Meyer jamming the puck in at the far post.
With 12 minutes to go the game was level. A long-range lofted shot from Scott Pitt deceived Kalemba and nestled high in the net behind him.
Braehead still weren't done and three minutes from time the comeback was complete, Chris Bruton smashing in a terrific cutback from Meyer, meaning Clan's unbeaten home record this season is stretched to three.
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