THE Basingstoke Bison cruised to a 5-0 victory in their opening pre-season game against the visiting Peterborough Phantoms.

The visitors won the game thanks to a four-goal blitz in the second period, as Dean Skinns in his first game back in a Bison jersey recorded a 27-shot shut-out.

It was the Phantoms who had the early chances, helped by the fact Ivan Antonov was dismissed after he drew blood with a high stick on Tom Norton.

The Bison forward was originally given a match penalty, but this was downgraded to 5+game, meaning the Herd man can play tonight in the return game.

The home side struck on their first powerplay of the night, as Ryan Sutton and Dan Davies combined for man of the match Aaron Connolly to tap home.

The second session was only 68 seconds old, when Connolly stole the puck and fed Jaroslav Cesky to score, on his return to the Herd.

The Bison then had to kill off three penalties in quick succession, and just seconds after the third, Grant Rounding stepped out of the sin bin to latch onto a pass from Tomas Karpov.

A Herd powerplay soon after, saw Dan Scott rifle home from the top of the circle and then Paul Petts with a nice back hand finish made it 5-0 at 34:35.

The final period was an even affair, as both sides had chances Skinns made sure of his shut-out, as Leigh Jamieson, Ales Padelek and Will Weldon from close range were all denied.

At the other end, Adam Long produced a triple save to deny Hallam Wilson, Daniel Lackey and Grant Rounding, when all of them looked set to score.

The Bison now travel to Peterborough this evening, to complete their pre-season campaign.