Phoenix torched early; fightback falls short against Flames

Manchester Phoenix 3-5 Guildford Flames

A third period barrage by Manchester Phoenix was not enough to earn any points against the league leaders Guildford Flames as they went down 5-3 on Saturday.

Phoenix, struggling to find consistency during an injury hit campaign, trailed the Flames 4-2 going into the final period and fired 17 shots at Mark Lee in the visitors net but could only find the net once.

Guildford opened the scoring in the 11th minute against the run through Branislav Kvetan and they doubled their lead as Nathan Rempel skated in all alone and beat Steve Fone in the Manchester net.

Man of the match Tom Duggan cut the lead in half before the first break as his angled shot slid under the pads of Lee but former Phoenix favourite Curtis Huppe restored the two goal cushion for visitors early in the second period.

Rick Plant extended their lead to 4-1 before Phoenix started their fight back with a Martin Cingel powerplay goal in the 33rd minute.

Ciaron Long netted Phoenix’s third early in the final period and Tony Hand’s side spent the next 20 minutes looking for an equalizer but Lee in the Flames net held firm and Jez Lundin scored an empty net goal with 20 seconds left to seal the points for the visitors.

Phoenix player coach Hand said: “The guys played extremely well tonight, it was a fantastic team performance. We were the better side for long periods and we were very unlucky not to take something from the game.”

Phoenix still searching for perfect weekend

Manchester Phoenix 3-4 Basingstoke Bison

Reigning champions Manchester Phoenix are falling away from the title chasing pack after another home defeat to Basingstoke.

Phoenix now lie eight points adrift of Guildford Flames and Slough Jets at the top of the English Premier League as they continue to search for a perfect four point weekend.

With player coach Tony Hand and winger Steven Wallace still sidelined through injury, Phoenix came away from Bracknell on Saturday with a 6-2 win but they couldn’t close out the Bison on Sunday after leading 2-0.

Slava Koulikov and Martin Cingel gave the home side the early lead, but Bison hit back before the break through Victor Kubenko.

Kubenko netted a breakaway goal early in the middle period before ex-Phoenix forward Joe Miller rounded netminder Steve Fone and scored for a 3-2 Bison lead.

Ladislav Harabin equalized for Phoenix before the second interval with a superb solo goal but Bison captain Nicky Chinn struck the winner mid way through the third period.

Phoenix coach Tony Hand said: “The guys are disappointed at the way things went tonight. We played well enough to get more out of the game.”