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Guildford Flames 2 - Manchester Phoenix 4

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J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix made it 5 wins in a row with a great 4-2 win in Guildford against the local Flames.

In a tight first period it took until the 18th minute for the scorer to be troubled. Michal Psurny scored his second in two games, with assists going to Tony Hand and Ondrej Pozivil, timed at 17:14. Referee Matt Thompson had little to do, calling only one minor penalty for each side and Phoenix went to the first break deservedly a goal to the good. The visitors outshot their hosts 18-9 with Mark Lee bringing off a couple of excellent saves in the period.

Guildford began to exert some pressure on the Phoenix defence and equalised on 28:24 with ex Manchester forward Curtis Huppe scoring, assisted by linemates David Longstaff and Jozef Kohut. Guildford then had their best spell of the game and a resolute Phoenix defence had to stand tall to keep Guildford’s high-scoring team at bay. End of two periods and the teams were level at 1-1.

Phoenix sent their band of travelling fans into raptures with the go-ahead goal just 91 seconds into the third period when captain Luke Boothroyd hit an unassisted powerplay goal for 2-1. The lead lasted only 12 seconds with a second Flames equaliser coming from Rick Plant, assisted by Andrew Hemmings and David Savage. When Phoenix went on the powerplay, for only the fourth time in the game, their first line went to work. They were rewarded on 57:03 as Joachim Flaten scored, assisted by Michal Psurny and Tony Hand. With little time left to react, Guildford pulled Mark Lee for the extra skater 33 seconds from the final hooter. However it was Phoenix who took advantage of the empty net with a goal from Scott McKenzie, assisted by James Archer and Tom Duggan with 6 seconds left on the clock.

All in all, a great road win for Phoenix against one of the most formidable home teams in the league. Coach Hand commented after the game: “I am absolutely delighted with the win. A great team effort and every single player deserves credit. This is a tough barn to get the points from. Guildford are a very good team but we worked very hard all night for the win.”

The teams meet again on Sunday afternoon at the Ice Dome with a 17:30 face off and it is sure to be another close, entertaining game between two of the best sides in the league.