Bailey Perre says the Leeds Knights have now found their footing ahead of a big weekend, with MK visiting The Castle on Saturday before the Knights travel to Romford on Sunday.
Leeds go into their first league/cup game of the season on Saturday looking to build on a convincing 9–2 victory over Peterborough last weekend — a performance Perre believes has set the standard for the team going forward.
“Yeah, I think it was really important going forward. I think we hadn't found our footing yet and then that night something just clicked, the boys were moving, we were getting pucks in deep and I think we've set a standard now, so we've just got to play like that going forward.”
Perre says the performance wasn't necessarily the culmination of a long build-up, but rather the point at which the Knights found their rhythm.
“I think maybe it's something we expected to do at the start of the season, we just hadn't got to that point yet so I think now that we've sort of got in the groove of things, it wasn't something we were expecting or leading up to, it's just we've found our footing.”
With two very different challenges ahead this weekend, Perre knows the Knights need to reproduce their Peterborough performance both at home and away.
“We've got to put performance in home and away. I think on the Saturday we were great and then we kind of dropped off in Peterborough so we've just got to take Saturday's performance as the baseline now.”
MK provide the first test on Saturday at The Castle, with the Knights looking to use home advantage to their benefit.
Perre knows exactly what kind of challenge MK can present after Leeds took them to overtime in their previous meeting.
“I mean when we went into their building, it's a tough building to go into. I think we gave them a good run in, we took it to overtime and I think they got the crowd behind them going into that OT and they were able to get over the line, but I think in this this building with our fans, if we can really get them behind us early doors, we'll be flying.”
After Saturday's home fixture, the Knights will head south to face the Romford Raiders on Sunday.
The travel is one of the challenges Perre highlighted, but the focus will be on making sure the team is ready once they arrive.
“I mean the travel, we're on a bus for four hours so we get a bit stiff so just get down there early, get off the bus, get moving.”
Perre also knows the Knights will have to block out the home crowd and concentrate on their own game.
“They've got some good imports and they get some good fans as well so as long as we go in there thinking that we're playing at home and then just block out all the noise and just play how we play.”
Training this week has focused on the battles around the net, with the Knights working on competing for rebounds and protecting their own crease.
“We just did a battle and compete, net front battles, getting gritty in front of our own net, boxing out and then getting gritty in front of the opposition net, getting those rebounds and stuff like that so just bearing down in front of the net.”
Perre thinks the key to getting the points the Knights want from the weekend is to maintain the standard they set against Peterborough.
“[We’ve got to] just play to our standard. I think the Saturday against Peterborough was just, that's the bare minimum that we have to give for the fans so if we play like that every night I think we'll do great.”
MK Lightning visit The Castle on Saturday night with a face-off time of 6:30pm for the first League/Cup game of the season on home ice.
