THE Basingstoke Bison extended their lead at the top of the English Premier League to six points.

This was after they got their busy weekend of three games in three days, off to the perfect start, with a 5-0 victory over the visiting Swindon Wildcats on Friday night.

Slovak shot stopper Tomas Hiadlovsky recorded his second and the Herd’s eighth shut-out of the season, which was a new EPL record, as he turned away all 19 shots he faced.

The Bison went into the game without the suspended import defenceman Miroslav Vantroba and also the injured Ryan Watt.

On the plus side Ryan Sutton returned from injury and Alex Sampford and Jacob Ranson were added to the line-up. Swindon were also minus player with netminder Stevie Lyle and import forward Tomasz Malasinki on international duty, while former Bison Matt Selby was still out injured.

The opening period was an even affair, as the shots on goal proved with seven on each goalie, but there were no goals.

The second session was a completely different story with a shot count of 15-3.

The Bison dominated from the start of the period, as Joe Greener and man of the match Dan Lackey both went close early on.

The pressure finally told as at 24:59, as Alan Lack scored from close range after good build-up play from Tomas Karpov and Lackey.

The home side continued to dominate and Greener chased his own shot into the Swindon end zone and beat Steve Whitfield to the puck.

This started the move which was to lead to the Bison’s second goal as the puck was fired in from the blue line by Kurt Reynolds and Slovak sniper Rene Jarolin netted the rebound at 27:42.

Jarolin was then denied a second with a great pad save, before the Bison made it 3-0. This came after the impressive Stuart Mogg's blue line shot, took a deflection and on the volley, Tomas Karpov bullet like shot flew into the net.

The final period saw the Herd continue to have the better of things and some lovely stick work from Ciaran Long, saw him fire past Jordan Hedley for the Bison’s fourth goal.

The Sutton, Ranson and Sampford forward line, then produced a couple of good chances, while soon after Reynolds shot came of Hedley and went across the face of the goal, where Long just failed to get a touch on the rebound.

The only powerplay of the night came at 54:49, as Bison’s captain Aaron Connolly departed for a two minute rest after he picked up a high sticking penalty.

Carlo Finucci and Adam Finlinson forced Hiadlovsky into saves with the man advantage, but the powerplay was killed and Connolly came out of the sin bin and was found by a Jarolin pass.

The captain returned the puck to the Slovak, who then found Lack skating into the zone.

The British forward’s first shot was saved, but he made no mistake with the rebound to complete the 5-0 win, three minutes from time.

The Bison continue their best weekend with a trip to Guildford tonight (6pm) and then on Sunday (6pm) are away in Swindon.