Dundee Tigers head coach Richard Phillips was delighted to see his team return from a three-week break to calm Kilmarnock Thunder but says there’s more to do.

Five-point nights for John Gordon, with four goals and an assist and five helps from Callum Hill put the Tigers top on Saturday but ended the weekend second place following the 8-2 victory of Thunder.

And Phillips is looking for more as the season goes on.

“It was a really good team performance and all the guys put a lot of effort in, but there is still lots to work on,” he said.

“I’m still new to it, of course, and I’m looking to the future with putting systems in place, but it’s getting the guys working and hopefully it will come good in the end.

“It was nice to see us top of the league, even if it was for one night, but we’ve come along nicely since the first game of the season where we gave up a two-goal lead to Aberdeen and lost 4-2.

“That was a hard one to swallow at the time so it was good to get a result like that back and the double points certainly helps us.  A lot can change in the coming weeks and months.”

While the scoreline looked decidedly one-sided, Tigers didn’t have it all their own way as Kilmarnock battled despite the relatively little reward.

Euan Gallacher scored the opening goal for the visitors, but two from Gordon quickly started to turn the game around in Tigers’ favour.

Markers from Andrew Henderson, Paul Guilcher and Ross McIntosh put Dundee firmly in pole position with a 5-1 in the second before Ewan Anderson pulled another back for Thunder.

Gordon completed his hat-trick before the second break before Callum Turnbull made it 7-2, with Gordon finishing the night off with three minutes to go to seal the double points.

Tigers’ enjoyment of the lofty top spot last 24 hours when Aberdeen Lynx returned to the SNL summit on Sunday night as they also claimed double points in Dundee, sealing a closely fought 4-3 win over the Comets.

Ben Brown’s opening goal was cancelled out by Owen Michie for Aberdeen before James DeMeo put the visitors ahead, with Adam Robinson responding for the home side.

Brown’s second of the game in the opening 20 seconds of the middle period put them in front again, but Aberdeen made the most of two powerplay chances in the third to see off Richard Hartmann’s side.

Jack Flynn and Jonathan Hogan were both on target as Lynx claimed victory and budged Tigers off top spot.

Kirkcaldy Kestrels returned to winning ways after four straight losses, albeit three of which came after regulation time, to leave Paisley Pirates stunned in a 6-1 success at Braehead Arena.

Pirates had picked up three straight wins, but had very little to hit Kestrels back with as the Fife side went two up in the first, courtesy of Jamie Crawford and Rolands Dietlavs.

Two from Conor Duncan reaffirmed the lead in the second period and although Calum Blair pulled one for Paisley in the final period, it was as much as they could muster.

Further markers from Ryan Todd and Scott Jamieson, who also picked up three assists on the night, made it a great way to return to winning ways for Kirkcaldy.

RESULTS

Saturday

Dundee Tigers 8 Kilmarnock Thunder 2

Sunday

Dundee Comets 3 Aberdeen Lynx 4

Paisley Pirates 1 Kirkcaldy Kestrels 6