The Adelaide Adrenaline, proudly presented by Hards Transport, suffered a disappointing 5-1 loss against the Melbourne Mustangs at home on Saturday evening. 

It was a crucial win for the Mustangs, who have now won four of their past five, while the Adrenaline are now in a critical position and must win tomorrow to prevent any further drop down the ladder.

Head coach Sami Mantere expressed his frustration after the game.

“It was really disappointing coming from the big Canberra win. We had a good team game there and it all fell apart from the start [today],” Mantere said.

On the score sheet, Mustangs import goalie James Krueger stopped close to 40 pucks in the emphatic win. But Mantere says that is not an excuse.

“I don’t think we even got to Krueger; we couldn’t get past their defence and we were looking at that as their weakness.”

A hurried start to the game saw both sides pressing for the opener as Cam Critchlow returned from injury, however it was the Mustangs who had the early honours with a tipped goal to Luke Fisher off a turnover in defence.

Joey Rezek and Casey Babineau were the hottest for Adelaide at the start but the Adrenaline struggled to maintain pressure up forward while the Mustangs continued charge after charge.

“We just played to their game and let them use their speed and control the tempo,” Mantere said.

Adelaide was the aggressor to start the second as they chased the tying goal with Rezek again amongst the action, while Greg Oddy also put together some key chances. However, it was Melbourne who claimed the advantage with two quick counters, and two quick goals.

First it was Michael McDowell who scored from a tight angle on an odd man rush. Then Lazzaratto buried a bumbled 2-on-0 Mustangs attempt from Kokkonen and O'Kane to put Melbourne in the driver's seat.

Down 3-0, Darren Corstens cut the margin with less than five to play in the second period, sending a sizzling shot into the back of the net.

It was a rare highlight and with James Keane not returning to the ice after a bad knock to the knee, and goalie Matt Murphy also injured - but on the ice - the Adrenaline were fighting hard.

Mantere said the injuries were no excuse for a late collapse, though, and there was too much laziness in the Adelaide side.

“Injuries are a convenient excuse but we’re fine,” he said. “We got a couple of injuries but we’ve got guys who need to prove their worth as well. It didn’t really happen today.”

“We said last weekend and this weekend it starts with defence and today we were lazy and sloppy in defence. We cheated in defence and if you get good defence you get good offence.”

Ultimately the Mustangs ran away with the game thanks to two late goals, one on a power play and the other in an empty net, with the 5-1 score line a better reflection of their dominance.

The two teams are back on the ice tomorrow at 4.30PM with Adelaide chasing much needed points. Tickets can be purchased at www.trybooking.com/pftr.