The Invicta Dynamos came away from Milton Keynes with a defeat in the first leg of the play-offs.
Invicta travelled without the suspended Eriks Ozollapa as well as the two young Wootton twins and backup netminder Glen Rodbourne.
The first period was a pacey affair with both teams skating hard. Nicky Lewis the best opportunity for the Dynamos, beating a couple of Thunder players and skating wide of netminder Wall but when Lewis cut the puck across the goal no-one was on hand to convert it into the net.
For MK, they kept Invicta netminder Damien King busy. Ryan Coffey, Alex Whyte and Tom Mboya were all denied by their former teammate.
The second period started with MK Thunder scoring in under a minute with Ross Bowers converting past King after Bowers beat Dewey on the left flank. Invicta replied more or less straight away with Jarvis Mewett finding Nicky Lewis who roofed a shot past Wall for 1-1.
Invicta grabbed the lead in the 28th minute. Callum Fowler picked out Adam McNicoll who had a lot to do in front of him but the small forward still managed to pick out a well-placed shot past Wall. Frustratingly for Invicta they lost the lead again later in the period. MK defended a penalty against Jamie Line and just as they returned to full strength Tom Mboya levelled to make it 2-2 at the interval.
In similar fashion to the start of the previous period, MK scored early in the third – Ross Bowers claiming his second goal of the night with assists coming from Jamie Line and Alex Whyte on 40:50. The Dynamos tried to find a leveller, going close through Jarvis Mewett but when Mewett gave away a hooking penalty on 50:56 the Mo’s got punished. Jamie Line hit the goal frame on 51:47 with Alex Whyte on hand to tap past King for 4-2 and a powerplay goal.
A timeout was called by Kevin Parrish as he tried to rally his shaken troops. Whatever the Dynamos coach said must have inspired the Kent side as they pulled a goal back soon after on 53:20. Ondrej Zosiak skated forward and had a shot parried which carried to Callum Fowler who cooly skated around the back of Walls net and tap in at the far post for 4-3.
With the game dying out the Dynamos were unable to grab an equaliser meaning they now must better MK Thunder by at least to goals on Sunday night. Two goal Ross Bowers was awarded man of the match for the home side, with Nicky Lewis accepting the award for the Dynamos.