MANCHESTER PHOENIX 5 - 3 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING
Two goals by forward Adam Walker proved
to be the difference in the 5-3 win over the Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday
evening, as the English Premier League Champions leapfrogged the
Buckinghamshire side into 6th place in the table in what was a fairly scrappy
and at times a cagey contest between the two established teams.
It saw the Phoenix take the lead
after 1.48 gone in the game, as fresh from his Gold medal winning exploits with
the GB-u20 team in Bobby Chamberlain as his pass was taken by Robin Kovar who
in turn found Luke Boothroyd and the Phoenix Captain found himself with acres
of space in the MK zone, before blasting by Stephen Wall to put the home side one
up.
It then took visitors till 11.57 in
the period to respond and it came from a drive up ice by Michael Farn, to which
saw the Lightning glide uncontested by an opposing player, before he played it to
Blaz Emersic and the forward made no mistake as he tapped in at the front door
to draw the scores level at 1-1, while Lewis Hook picked up an assist on the
goal.
Manchester then found themselves on
a 5 on 3 penalty kill with Jared Dickinson and Robin Kovar serving time for
Tripping and Interference offenses and Unlike the night previous where a 5 on 3
was the down fall late on for the Phoenix lost to the Peterborough Phantoms in
a Shootout, this time round the Phoenix managed to kill off the penalties without
having to do much in the way of blocking shots with the two man disadvantage.
Manchester then retook the lead
again in the final minute of the 1st, when frantic play at the front of the MK
goal saw Bobby Chamberlain effort stopped by Wall to which the goalie had no
clue where the puck was. The crowd was screaming and willing it in and saw a
bit of a scramble at the front of the crease, with Lewis Christie being the
unfortunate man to accidently put the puck in his own net for a 2-1 score.
The visitors were trying to see how
far they could push the line before being penalised, as a few noticeable calls went
missed by referee Steve Brown to which included a nasty Check to the head by
Chris Wiggins on James Archer which wasn`t called and then led to Robin Kovar being
called for Interference, as the Czech man bundled into the back of Wiggins off
the puck with a hard check in the back.
Jordan Cownie was lucky not to get
a checking from behind call after his hit on Frankie Bakrlik, to which saw him
catch the Phoenix man full on the numbers on the back of the Manchester man
shirt and saw him crash into a two players by the boards that saw a MK man and
Phoenix take a tumble with Bakrlik crashing into them both.
However Brown did call something
eventually for the hosts, with Shaun Thompson holding the puck up in the corner
board, he was eating time on the penalty kill and saw Michael Farn trying his
best trying to get the puck loose, but it led to Farn at least on two or three occasions
stamping down on Thompson leg/foot and saw Farn pick up a Unsportsmanlike
Conduct call against him.
The start of the Second period saw
the Lightning and Emersic once again level things up with Lewis Hook and Jordan
Cownie combining to set up the forward for his second goal, as he ghosted round
the Phoenix defence and somehow found a way by Declan Ryan in the Manchester
goal for the tying goal at 20.58.
James Archer then picked up a bizarre
Holding call, as he was more the one on the receiving end of it than committing
it, but the official saw it other way round and sent him to the penalty box and
put Phoenix back on the penalty kill. This saw from the resulting penalty
against Archer, the home side retaking the lead once more in the game after a
short-handed effort by Robin Kovar had the Czech forward drill a shot low past Stephen
Wall and make it 3-2 at 31.45 in the game.
Manchester then scored twice in the
space of five minutes, with both goals coming on the power play from Adam
Walker, with the Scottish forward netting both power play goals for the home
side. His first came with an element of little deflection that may have tricked
Stephen Wall in the Lightning nets at 34.16, but his second goal had no luck to
it at all, as the forward danced his way through the MK defence and made a
little move on Wall to score at 38.26 and put the Phoenix 5-2 up heading into
the final period and see them all but break the Lightning spirit.
An early goal in the 3rd period for
the visitors seemed to be a perfect response for the rest of the period, but
the Phoenix bounced back and closed down all the shooting lanes that the MK side
seemed to be using and saw them unable to get many shots off on Declan Ryan.
Their third goal of the game came from a break from within their zone and saw
Marek Curilla come away with the puck, before a stretch pass across the ice
beat Johan Burlin attempt to stop it reaching Jordan Cownie, but the puck did
reach Cownie and after skating over the Phoenix defensive zone, his pass at the
front of the net was superbly tipped in by Leigh Jamieson and saw the Lightning
still not out of the contest yet.
Phoenix had a chance for a Sixth
goal after some good team play by the Phoenix forwards, had Tony Hand set James
Archer off on a charge and his one-two with Michal Psurny nearly saw Archer score
but was stopped by the glove of Stephen Walls, with the netminder keeping his
side in the game once again. Declan Ryan
was then called upon to make a few saves for the home side and he dealt with
the shots pretty well and saw the game come to a close and saw the Phoenix moving
up to Sixth position in the table, trail by just two points on the Swindon
Wildcats as we head into the festive season now and a tough couple of games
against the league leaders the big spending Telford Tigers in a Home and Away
weekend.
Adam Walker told Phoenix TV: “It has been a good
weekend for us. I thought we played well last night in Peterborough and
were unlucky not to get both points. Milton Keynes are always a tough
side to beat and we worked hard for the win. We are still a bit short on
players but we are putting a run together that hopefully will see us
climb the table.”
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