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Phoenix nap hand over Racers

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Manchester Phoenix brought the curtain down on their first regular season of Elite League ice hockey with a moral-boosting victory over the London Racers on Sunday.

With a playoff place secured, Phoenix were determined to end the regular season on a high following Friday's disappointing loss to Cardiff and they needed just 14 seconds to open their account as Mika Skytta scored the first of his brace of goals. Skytta bagged his second in the tenth minute and Mark Bultje crashed home a bullet shot on an early powerplay in the second period. London hit back through Lukas Filip and Mark Scott, before the 34 minute mark, but Phoenix re-doubled their efforts in the final session with Petteri Lotila scoring a deserved goal and Mark Bultje notching his second of the game in the 52nd minute. Racers captain Erik Zachrisson tucked home a third goal for the visitors but it was not enough to deny Phoenix the win they desperately wanted.

Phoenix coach Paul Heavey remarked, "It was better than Friday for sure although we still have one or two areas of our play to address before we go into the playoff schedule. We challenged the guys to show what they can do after Friday's debacle and it was a better performance. We'll do some video work this week as well as on-ice training, and we'll be having some one-on-one talks with guys to make sure they know exactly what is required from here on in. Very pleased for Dave Clancy our young netminder tonight, he's a good character, works hard in training and deserved the game tonight - very pleased for him that he got the win

Heavey added on his injury concerns, "We rested both Mike Lankshear and Carl Greenhous tonight as there was nothing on the line in terms of the result - the extra couple of days will give them both a little more time to get healed up and ready to play intense playoff hockey.”