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Phoenix find Flames too hot to handle

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Manchester Phoenix found the red-hot Flames too hot to handle on Sunday night as the visitors played a near perfect road game to bring the Phoenix recent run of wins to a grinding halt.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand summed up the result and his teams performance saying, "We got what we deserved this evening, nothing. That might sound harsh, but we just didn't get going tonight and credit to Guildford, they were very good and shut us down very effectively. We played really well on Saturday and maybe that took more out of us than any of us thought. We just didn't have any jump tonight and you cannot go up against a strong team like Guildford and expect a result unless you're firing on all cylinders."

The opening ten minutes of the game were fairly even, but from that point the visitors began to get on top and they opened the scoring through Tom Duggan in the 13th minute. Phoenix battled back and equalised with a superb close range finish from Stephen Wallace, his ninth goal since signing from Sheffield and the teams were tied at the first interval.

A quick start to the second session though saw the Flames open up a two-goal lead as Hurtaj beat Steve Fone from close range in the 23rd minute and Rempel added a third two minutes later. Phoenix failed to make the most of a powerplay when a shot from Andre Mattsson hit the outside of a post and a second man advantage also saw the home side fail to reduce the arrears. A superb pass from Tony Hand released Ed Courtenay and with the home crowd placing their wages on a goal, somehow the show went wide, but just seconds later, Courtenay made amends taking a pass from Wallace to net his 42nd goal of the season. Guildford regained their two-goal margin in the 37th minute with a fluke finish from Masa as he fanned on his shot and the sliding puck deceived Fone in the home goal.

The third period began badly for the Phoenix as Courtenay received a 10-minute Misconduct penalty and the Flames scored their fifth goal, Potts on the mark to the delight of the travelling fans from Surrey. Worse came for Courtenay as he further abused the referee in the 47th minute and a second Misconduct penalty saw him ejected from the game. Guildford then rubbed salt in the Phoenix wounds as Masa bagged his second of the game and his teams sixth with a shorthanded goal with Smital in the sin-bin for Holding. Phoenix thought they'd scored in the dying minutes only for the referee to wash it out for the puck having hit the goalie in the face-mask and this time it was Andre Payette who protested too vocally and he too was assessed a Misconduct major.

Tony Hand added, "The good thing for us is we've got the chance on Thursday to bounce back quickly against Milton Keynes in the cup. The guys will have to re-focus, put tonight behind them and get ready for another big game. All our games against the Lightning have been battles, so our guys need to get ready right now for another on Thursday."