Manchester Phoenix 5 - 2 Peterborough Phantoms
Manchester Phoenix 5 - 2 Peterborough Phantoms
Bakrlik x2 Piatak
Graham L.Ferrara
Bentham
Archer
Manchester Phoenix managed to snap their 3-game losing streak at home with a 5-2 victory over the bottom of the table Peterborough Phantoms last Sunday. Manchester were looking to get back to winning ways and also shake off their EPL Cup Semi-Final heartache two days before, which saw them lose out to Milton Keynes Lightning 5-4 in Overtime and had the home side now having to contend with the League title to focus on now.
In
the opening period of play, the game it`s self was a rather scrappy affair by
all accounts, with neither side able to fully take the game on despite Phoenix
trying to exert their pressure into meaningful chances. The home side then
managed to generate some chances and put Damien King under some pressure in the
Phantoms goal which saw King making some good stops to avoid the home side
taking the lead in the game. Peterborough then had Declan Balmer go to the penalty
box for Cross Checking at 12-11 and from that resulting power play saw
Frantisek Bakrlik open the scoring, with a little spin move to find the bottom
of the net and put the Phoenix a goal to the good at 12-41 with Tony Hand and
Michal Psurny assisting on it.
Phoenix
then doubled their lead at 14-21 when the Brit line came together and saw Jacob
Corson-Heron find former Phantoms player Richard Bentham who then passed across
the face of goal, to find another ex Peterborough man in Joe Graham who waiting
at the back of the net, to put Phoenix 2-0 up after the first period.
Second
period then saw the home side go 3-0 up, when Richard Bentham buried the puck
past King to see Phoenix take the game away from Peterborough with Bakrlik and
Psurny helping the youngster score his 6th goal of the season to see them
heading to victory. Peterborough found themselves back on the penalty kill
when Jason Buckman was called for Holding at 26-41 and saw the Phoenix
powerplay unit unable to score on it this time around. Manchester`s Czech
Republic forward Frantisek Bakrlik, then picked up a Roughing penalty when he
tangled with a Phantoms defenceman at the front of the Visitors net 31-07 and
saw Phoenix kill the following penalty, as Peterborough looked fairly toothless
in attack.
Bakrlik
then headed straight back to the box for a High Sticking call, with the Czech
man winding up to blast it and the Phantoms defenceman jump in front of the
blast and managed to knock it away just before the forward and he managed to
stop fully following through on the player, but after the Phoenix man checked
up on the defenceman he headed to the box then at 34-15.
This
then saw Peterborough get on the scoreboard through Slovakian forward Erik
Piatak as managed to score on the power play for the Phantoms at 34-38 to give
them a slight glimmer of hope at 3-1. At the back end of the period, Marc
Levers caught a painful one off a Rob Schnabel rocket, as Levers dropped down
quickly from taking the shot high up to the inside of the thigh and was still
willing to put his body in the way of more shots. After the away side cleared
the puck, Levers gingerly skated to the bench which drew applause from the home
crowd in the appreciation of the effort of the Peterborough man and also the
mixture of possible stupidity at blocking Schnabel’s bullet like shots.
In
the Third stanza, Frantisek Bakrlik then smashed home Manchester`s fourth goal
of the game with Michal Psurny and Tony Hand combining to see the Czech forward
grab his second goal of the game at 48-29. Peterborough then responded a few
minutes later through a Luke Ferrara effort, as the forward beat Steve Fone in
the Phoenix nets to see the Phantoms trail 4-2 at 50-20 with Piatak and his
brother James Ferrara assisting on the second visitors goal to.
Manchester
was quicker in their response to conceding a goal, when it took all of
twelve-seconds to reopen their Three goal lead again, thanks to another ex-Phantoms
player in James Archer. As Archer added his name to the score sheet with him
firing past Damien King to make it 5-2 and finish off a lost Peterborough side.
More importantly though for the Phoenix,
was winning on home ice after a long time and the victory kept them at the
summit for the meantime ahead of their ‘top of the table’ clash with the Basingstoke
Bison this up coming weekend down in Hampshire.
Sunday saw Manchester travel to Shropshire
to face off against the Telford Tigers who were 9 games, undefeated prior to
the match and saw Phoenix sneak a late winner 1-0 thanks to a goal by forward
James Archer at 57-24. That win saw them stay joint top with Basingstoke, whom
themselves kept the pressure on as they beat Slough Jets 7-2 in Basingstoke.
Phoenix official: http://www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk/news/2435/phoenix-back-rails-convincing-win-phantoms
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