OXFORD City Stars crashed to an 11-2 defeat at Invicta Dynamos for their second defeat of the play-off series.
The day started badly for Oxford with the news that Derek Flint, Nick Eden and Scott Gough were all unable to play, and their worries about a heavy defeat quickly became a reality as Invicta started well.
Oxford weathered the initial storm, until Kevin Lake converted a pass from Andy Martin to give the Dynamos the lead.
A minute later, the puck was gently deflected in from close-range off a high centring pass and almost seemed to float past Jamie Thompson in the Oxford net, with Grant Baxter claiming the credit.
Invicta looked faster and sharper than Oxford, near the end of the first period, Lake scored again to make it 3-0 at the break.
Stars would have wanted a quick start in the second period, but instead, they were rocked back on their heels when Mike Allaby scored for Invicta after 22 seconds.
Oxford had occasional good spells, but Invicta were well on top, assisted by a lot of poor play and errors from Stars players, and the score mounted steadily.
Stuart Low scored Invicta's fifth and then there was a powerplay effort from Peter Carey.
The seventh Dynamos' goal came from Andy Smith, who put on a fine individual display, waltzing past Oxford defencemen time and again.
Stars finally got on the scoresheet through a well-worked Darren Elliott goal after good play from Alan Green.
But the home side struck back immediately, Low notching his second goal of the game just 18 seconds later.
An unassisted strike from Smith gave Dynamos a 9-1 lead at the end of the period.
Oxford put Andy Webster in goal for the start of the third period, due to an injury to starting netminder Thompson.
He had been hit on the neck in the first period by a falling crossbar, and although he continued after treatment, it was clear that he was struggling.
Youngster Jakob Smith made his first appearance for the Stars and didn't look out of place.
Oxford reduced the arrears with a slapshot from Darren Elliott, but Invicta had the final say with goals from Karl Lennon and Allaby completing the rout.
Scorers - Invicta: A Smith 2+3, S Low 2+2, M Allaby 2+2, K Lake 2+1, K Lennon 1+1, Pr Carey 1+1, G Baxter 1+1, A Martin 0+2, A Shaw 0+1.
Oxford: D Elliott 2+0, A Green 0+1, J Clarke 0+1, D Carr 0+1.
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