PETER Slamiar grabbed a hat-trick as Swindon Wildcats were convincingly beaten in Sheffield last night.

After winning 6-3 Milton Keynes Lightning the night before, Cats struggled against a weakened Sheffield side.

But despite the Scimitars losing star players Stuart Brittle, Robert Dowd and Pasi Raitanen, Swindon were heavily beaten 5-1.

It was the home side who started strongest but they failed to beat Cats' netminder Nathan Craze with their early attacks.

Wildcats could have taken the lead when both sides were reduced to four players apiece with Shane Moore and Oliver Barron sitting out penalties but Joel Petkoff and Lee Richardson were both denied by young netminder Paul Jones.

Jan Vrtik was the next player in the sin bin but Swindon successfully killed off the penalty.

Petkoff went close again, denied once more by Jones, before Slamiar the go-ahead goal at 15.22.

And on 18 minutes Matty Davies missed a golden opportunity to level, squandering an open net chance.

Swindon Wildcats went further behind at the start of the second period when Simon Butterworth scored at 22.10.

And matters got worse for Cats when Slamiar added his second at 29.01 to put the home side well in control.

Cats pulled a goal back on 31 minutes when Robin Davison and Richardson combined to set up Petkoff to score but Slamiar hit back, completing his hat-trick at 39.19, Cats raised their game in the final period, penning Sheffield in their own half of the ice, but at 45.33 Ben Morgan struck the fifth and final goal for the home side.

On Saturday the Wildcats produced a sublime start and a a stunning finish to take two vital EPL points from the Milton Keynes Lightning.

They swept into a three-goal lead to stamp their mark on the match. Matty Davies created the first with a high speed dash down the ice, he slipped the puck to Robin Davison who opened the scoring with a crisp finish at 4.01 on the powerplay.

The second came from the determination and tenacity of Jamie Hayes, the Welsh teenager feeding the puck while being held behind the goal, into the path of Joel Petkoff for the second at 11.51.

The third was simply ice hockey at its best, a sublime move of inter passing the puck between Davies, Petkoff and Davison, the veteran applying the finishing touch at 18.51.

Expectations that the Lightning would come out with all guns blazing for the second period proved groundless, and the Cats scored another goal of quality. Tomas Janak took the puck way down the ice, passed it to John Wheaton and received it back, netting with ease at 25.23.

This seemed to shake the visitors into greater urgency and after giving up the puck in his own zone a foul was called on Shane Moore as he tried to regain possession - but the penalty was waved off when Toni Alasaarela scored at 25.52.

Lightning scored their second during a breakaway on a Wildcats powerplay with the league's top British scorer beating Wheaton for pace.

When Moore was assessed four minutes for both holding and being without his helmet, the Cats had to work hard to keep the scoreline at 4-2 as the clock wound down.

Before Moore returned to the ice in the final period Lightning made it a one goal game on the powerplay, Ales Perez scoring at 40.37. For 18 minutes the Cats held out, and then Milton Keynes pulled their netminder in favour of an extra skater at 58.34.

Fourteen seconds later the puck came to Jan Vrtik, wide on the right and the Slovak carefully placed his shot into the net for his first goal of the season. The visitors tried the same trick in the final minute, only for left winger Petkoff, against the boards to send another measured shot into an unguarded net at 59.28.

  • MATCH STATS v MK LIGHTNING Swindon scorers: Davison and Petkoff both 2 goals 1 assist; Janak and Vrtik 1+0; Davies 0+2; Hayes, Richardson and Wheaton all 0+1.

Period scores: Cats 3 Lightning 0; 1-2; 2-1 Shots on Goal: Cats 23 (2 on an empty net), Lightning 28 Penalty Minutes: Cats 4 Lightning 8 Cats Man of the Match: Robin Davison.

  • MATCH STATS v SHEFFIELD Swindon scorers: Petkoff 1+0, Davison and Richardson both 0+1.

Period scores: Sheffield 1 Cats 0, 3-1, 1-0 Shots on Goal: Sheffield 31, Cats 27 Penalty Minutes: Sheffield 6 Cats 10 Cats Man of the Match: Wayne Fiddes.