The Bees, who went into the clash on the back of a four-match losing streak, battled hard at The Hive to claim a potentially vital point from a 4-3 penalty shootout defeat.

The result puts them two points ahead of ninth-placed Peterborough Phantoms in the English Premier Ice Hockey League, having played a game more.

They now have three matches remaining - Swindon Wildcats at home on Sunday (6.30pm f/o), Milton Keynes Lightning away on March 22 and Phantoms at home on March 23 - and Smital hopes they can finish strongly after their display on Saturday.

“It was good for confidence and team morale, especially at this point of the season,” he said.

“I had a feeling before the game we would pull it out and we did, we had a strong practice on Tuesday and Thursday, the guys wanted it, and I thought that was the difference between the last two weeks.

“We played with heart, defensively we wanted to succeed in our responsibilities, you see players blocking the puck and it gets the guys going. We didn’t give them that many opportunities, except for the first, we sorted it out and played good hockey.

“We showed up and played some possession hockey and hopefully we start getting back on track.” In a tight contest, Bees led 1-0 and 3-2 but were also indebted to some big saves from Alex Mettam to prevent Tigers scoring more than three.

The netminder pulled off a fantastic double stop in the final period and Smital had nothing but praise for his performance.

“We had some chances but Alex was outstanding, he made some big saves for us,” he commented.

“He was a bit down after the shootout so I had to tell him that if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be in this position anyway. It was a great performance and it felt good, you feel like the pressure eases off a bit, we have that kick to move forward rather than have our heads down.” Bees now go into the final three games of the season knowing that three wins would be enough to secure their place in the play-offs.

And Smital says: “Our next focus is Swindon, whatever Peterborough do is out of our hands, we can only control what we do and that is to keep winning, that’s the main focus.

“We don’t talk about pressure but there is always pressure, players know it, I know it. It’s just that feeling of you don’t want to fail, that kind of pressure. It’s backs against the wall, that’s where the pressure comes from, it’s good for youngsters, that’s the situations they learn in.

“If you have an inexperienced player they will not gain experience week in week out, it takes time, the main reason to give Vanya [Antonov] a penalty shot was he needs to learn, he needs to start doing these things and be capable of scoring goals in these situations.

“Was he nervous? I am sure he was, but he took it right and was a bit unlucky and the same goes for everybody.”