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Phoenix edged out in wild Sunday night game

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Manchester Phoenix iced the same team for a second game in a row as they visited the Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday evening, and eventually fell to a 7-6 defeat in an incredible game.

Czech forward Ales Padalek got the scoring underway for the home side when he netted at 3:51 on the Powerplay, but Phoenix roared back and grabbed the next three goals.  Mark Thomas set Michal Satek away to level at 8:23, and Satek netted again on the Powerplay at 11:02 after being set up by Robin Kovar.  Martin Baranek then buried a rebound at 12:17 after a James Archer effort had been saved to make it 3-1.

Peterborough called a timeout in an attempt to calm proceedings, and responded with a scrambled goal from Milan Baranyk at 14:42 to end a breathless first period.

The goals continued to flow in the second period as Baranyk scored his second at 27:22 to level the scores before Brad Moore made it 4-3 at 34:25.  Satek then found himself in the penalty box for Phoenix but that allowed Kovar to release Archer shorthanded to equalise at 35:24.  Peterborough did manage to score on the same Powerplay through Darius Pliskauskas at 36:08 but incredibly there were two further goals to come in the period.  Kovar made it 5-5 when he netted at 37:05 after a Satek shot came off the back boards, but Lloyd Gibson again nudged the home side in front at 38:10.

The third period was more of a cagey affair, but Phoenix eventually forced another equaliser with Archer getting his second at 48:25 with another assist for Kovar.  It was Peterborough though who managed to get the 13th and final goal of the evening with Baranyk completing a hat trick on the Powerplay at 54:34 and despite Phoenix pulling netminder Steve Fone, the home side hung on.

Coach Tony Hand commented: “It was certainly a strange game in some respects, the commitment was there, but I’m sure both Slava and I will be looking at some of the goals, as individual errors hurt us.  We need to be smarter in the neutral zone and not turn the puck over so much but the boys gave everything they had again tonight.

“I thought overall we deserved something out of the game and there were a lot of positives to take from the performance.  Some of the guys are still finding their feet after injuries and Martin is getting to grips with the pace of the league.  Next week’s game against Hull is huge, so we need as many people as possible coming to support us on Sunday night.”

Phoenix are at home next weekend when we welcome the Hull Pirates to Deeside on Sunday with a 6:30pm face-off.