DEAN Skinns recorded shut out number six as the Basingstoke Bison enjoyed their best victory of the season over the Swindon Wildcats beating them 4-0.

The Herd shot stopper turned away all 28 shots he faced during the game, which was very much won due to the Bison superior special teams.

The home side managed to convert three of their four powerplays, while Swindon finished the night zero from six.

It was Bison captain Aaron Connolly who had the first shot of the contest after 40 seconds.

However, after this the teams cancelled each other out for the next seven minutes.

Bison's Ivan Antonov had another shot caught before Swindon's Nell had one kicked away by Skinns.

The first penalty of the game arrived at 9:07 and the visitors enjoyed some good pressure as Chris Jones and Nell both tested Skinns.

A kind bounce off the boards allowed Stephen Whitfield to have a centre ice dash, but Skinns denied him.

The Herd's Grant Rounding then tried to jam the puck in at the post, but Renny Marr stood firm in the Swindon net.

Swindon were then given another powerplay at 16:47, which saw Edgars Bebris nearly score from close range.

Bison's Tomas Karpov was then joined in the sin bin by Stuart Mogg, but despite 53 seconds of a two man advantage, they failed to have another shot on goal as the period ended 0-0.

The Bison so nearly opened the scoring after 26 seconds of the middle session, but Connolly's tipped effort from Joe Baird's shot went just wide.

Nell then forced a save from Skinns, before the first Bison powerplay.

Swindon’s Neil Liddiard had barely sat down in the sin bin, before the Herd scored as it took them just five seconds to convert the man advantage.

Dan Davies won the face-off and passed the puck back to Baird and his blue line shot was steered home by Connolly at 23:00.

The Bison doubled their lead three minutes later, as Baird got the puck out of the Herd defensive zone and Sutton latched onto it and skated in on goal to score.

Soon after, Karpov and Antonov both went close as the home side continued to dominate.

The second Bison powerplay of the night, saw the home side score again as Karpov's shot from the blue line hit the pads of Marr. Davies, then did the same with his first shot, but put in the rebound to make it 3-0 at 30:14.

At this point , Swindon swapped their netminders as Marr was replaced by Matt Smital.

As the period came to a close an error by Nell allowed Roman Malinik to skate away, but Smital came up with the save to keep it 3-0 at the second break.

Swindon had the first chance of the final period as man of the match Jones went close.

The visitors had the better chances, but Bison man of the match Skinns kept them out.

The home side then scored on their final powerplay of the night, as Malinik and Sutton combined to leave Davies with a tap in.

Swindon had one last powerplay, but Malinik for the Bison went closest as his shot was pushed away by the glove of Smital.

The Bison continue their quest for the league title this evening, with a tough trip to local rivals the Bracknell Bees.