National League: Lee Valley Lions 0 Peterborough 4

Lee Valley and Peterborough combined for 136 penalty minutes and James Tipple made 70 saves in a losing cause as the Lions fell to the Islanders last night.

The match turned chippy after just five minutes when James Joseph clashed with James White, who had been whistled for interference.

Peterborough’s Connor Stokes took down Joseph from behind and unleashed a series of punches while Joseph was on the ice.

Stokes and Joseph were given match penalties and the tone of the evening was set as penalties continued to mount, but the Lions were uninspiring with the man advantage.

The Islanders, on the other hand, took advantage on their second powerplay as Nathan Pollard’s quick pass across the front of the net caught the Lions off guard and Shaun Yardley snapped the puck in under Tipple’s legs.

Islanders’ man of the match Pollard added his side’s second goal on a breakaway early in the second period and then scored again in the third period.

Clint Herring added the fourth goal for Peterborough to conclude the scoring, but the match turned nasty again soon after his goal.

Lee Valley’s Chris Fox expressed his frustration at a missed tripping call and was given his second 10-minute misconduct, resulting in an early shower.

And in the final minutes of the match, Peterborough managed to get five men in the box as they were handed eight penalties, including two 10-minute misconducts, in just over two minutes of playing time.

After the match, Lions captain Nick Alley had no explanation for the feisty play, saying: “Everyone’s had a long week, but we should have been keeping our composure. We feel like there were some bad calls, but they were on both sides. There can’t be any excuses, really. We lost our cool.”

Alley also said that his side should have done more to back up Tipple in his stellar performance.

The Lions managed 42 shots on Peterborough;s goal but couldn’t get any through and Alley added: “As with pretty much every game we play, our goalie kept us in it. I’d be confident in saying he’s one of, if not the best goalie in the league.

“As a team we’ve got to be doing more to support him and we didn’t get a single goal. Letting in four goals in this league, you should be running close to winning, but we didn’t have that finishing touch in the end.”

The Lions will look to snap their four-match losing streak on March 5 as they face off with the bottom club Invicta Mustangs on home ice.