NETMINDER Alex Mettam produced an outstanding performance, but was unable to prevent Bracknell Bees from losing 3-2 at home to Milton Keynes Lightning at The Hive on Sunday, writes Dave Wright.

His side’s man of the match, he faced 38 shots while conceding a goal in each of the three periods.

“Alex was fantastic,” said coach Gareth Cox. “On this form, he is one of the best in the league.”

Mettam’s brilliance, plus a very early goal, inspired Bees to give their best show of the season so far – just 24 hours after slumping to a 6-2 defeat away to Swindon Wildcats.

Right from the face-off they showed they wanted to get their poor display at Swindon out of their system.

It took them just 13 seconds to open the scoring following a quick face-off on the left, from where Lukas Smital and Carl Thompson combined to set up David Gaborcik whose snap-shot flew past Przemyslaw Odrobny in the MK goal.

Lightning, who had suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Guildford on Saturday, needed just another two minutes and 10 seconds to level through Blaz Emersic.

The opening period produced further chances at both ends, making it the most entertaining 20 minutes of play seen at The Hive so far this season.

Bees were denied a second goal during a scramble in front of the MK goal. The game was fast and furious with Rio Grinell-Parke going close, while Mettam pulled off three smart saves in quick succession.

But it was Bracknell who ended the period on top, with Krystof Kafan regaining the lead with 41 seconds remaining from a chance set up by Scott Spearing and Alex Barker.

Not surprisingly, the middle period failed to match the first for excitement with Bees not helped by early visits to the sin-bin for Matt Foord, Spearing and Gaborcik.

And it was on power-play when Lightning equalised for a second time on 29:17 when Lewis Hook squeezed the puck home from an angle.

Bees had chances to move ahead for a third time with Luka Basic going the closest just seconds before the end of the period.

When the game resumed it took MK just one minute and 55 seconds to take the lead for the first time. Mettam blocked the initial shot, only for Craig Scott to fire home the rebound. Bees did not give up, with Smital going close when he made a swift break.

With one minute 35 seconds remaining, the hosts called a time-out, as did Lightning with 26 seconds left, by which time Bees had withdrawn Mettam.

The Bees, especially in defence, did not play well at Swindon the previous night which saw Aaron Nell net a hat-trick for the Wildcats with goals timed at 5:16, 24:55 and 35:10. Jonas Hoog (9:21, 52:08) and Jan Kostal (59:34) completed the scoring.

Bees replied through Smital with a short-handed goal on 17:34, and Thompson,on power play on 55:04.

The penalty count was high with Wildcats spending 16 minutes in the sin-bin and Bees 12 – six for Basic and four for Spearing.

Bracknell visit Guildford Flames on Saturday before hosting Basingstoke Bison on Sunday, (both 6pm face-offs).

Defenceman Josh Tetlow and forward Josh Smith are this week attending a Great Britain under-20 training camp in Slovakia in preparation for the World Championships in Budapest in December. They play Slovakia and Austrian side St Polten.