Invicta Dynamos coach Karl Lennon will be hoping it’s third time lucky against their weekend play-off opponents.

The Dynamos face Solent Devils in this season’s NIHL Southern play-off quarter-finals - a team who have proved to be their nemesis in the last few years.

Lennon’s first play-off campaign as head coach of the Mos ended at the semi-final stage against the Devils after a dramatic finish, leading 3-1 with 1.34 minutes on the clock before conceding twice and then losing in over-time while short-handed.

Lennon’s team also lost to Solent in last year’s quarter-finals, a meeting which the coach felt was influenced too much by the officials. The Mos lost that one 11-4 on aggregate.

The Dynamos are at home to the Devils on Saturday (5.45pm) in their quarter-final opener before playing away in the deciding second game on the Sunday at Planet Ice, Gosport.

Lennon said: “They’re a familiar foe when it comes to play-off hockey.

“We’ve just got to make sure now that we show the best version of ourselves.

“In terms of the head-to-heads [this season] we had an overtime loss against them at home and a loss in regulation, and then we had a win in their rink at the first game of the season and a bigger loss as well.

“We literally had two or three defencemen for that one game and the difference between the two sides has not been much at all. They’ve obviously done well this year and they got to the cup final.

“Alex Murray, their coach, has them very well organised and prepared for big games and so we can’t be under any illusions they’re going to give us some trouble across the weekend.

“Of course, you’ve also got a very difficult venue in their rink to negotiate, which is always a challenge.

“We’re prepared. We’ve got some good results there in recent years, so we’ve got to take confidence from that and carry that through.”

The Mos are likely to have senior netminder Brad Windebank back.

He had a bump from the recent match against Streatham and was rested for the final two games of the regular season as youngster Nikolai Divall played between the pipes.

The teams last met in early January when Solent edged the contest 3-2 in Gillingham.

It was the second win in Kent for the Devils after winning the match in November on penalties - that meeting coming off the back of a 9-1 win for the Gosport-based team on their own ice against a short-benched Invicta.

Invicta’s solitary win came in the season’s opening game, 6-4 away from home.

The Mos will be hoping to have forward Louie White available, but were in need of league clearance giving them the nod for him to play.

White has made seven appearances, with three goals and two assists since joining in mid-February, but hasn’t hit the threshold set by the league for games played since signing to be available in the play-offs. The Mos think they have a case for dispensation.

Lennon said: “The league has given dispensation to clubs before for various, different circumstances. We’re hoping that they give us some green light on that one.”