Phoenix take the points against a tough Lightning team

Sunday, 26th January 2014

Manchester Phoenix 3 Milton Keynes Lightning 2 (after Penalty Shots).

Phoenix scorers: Jack Watkins and Robin Kovar. Joe Graham – penalty shot winner.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix battled hard for the points at the Dome on Saturday night against a Lightning side who were desperate to put in a better performance than they did the previous evening against Bracknell.

Phoenix started well and pinned Lightning in their own zone, peppering shots on Stephen Wall in the Lightning net. However the visitors broke out at 1.13 and took the lead. Jordan Cownie scored with assists going to Ross Green and Leigh Jamieson. Phoenix had the better of the game for most of the period but excellent defence and poor finishing saw the period end at 1-0 to Lightning.

Milton Keynes solid defence again kept Phoenix at bay in the second period but they made chances themselves, the best of them being with 4 minutes left on the period. A break down in the neutral zone saw Lightning bear down on Stephen Fone with two forwards but the Phoenix back stop was up to the task and pushed the puck wide to keep the score at 1-0.

Phoenix were finding it hard to break down the best organised defence to visit the Dome this season but eventually found a way through on 42.22. Jack Watkins found himself alone on the left slot after great work by Liam Chong and Richard Bentham and his wicked wrister sailed high and handsome over Wall’s glove into the net for the equalising goal. Phoenix now had their tails up and took the lead on 46.21 with a Robin Kovar power play goal. Assists went to Michal Psurny and James Archer. Lightning re-grouped and equalised with a power play goal of their own on 54.29. Richard Bentham was sitting out a 2 minute cross-checking penalty when Tom Carlon took advantage of a high rebound from Stephen Fone off a Leigh Jamieson shot to slot home the equaliser. Second assist went to Janne Jokila. That ended the scoring and the game went into overtime.

Phoenix had to work hard in the 5 minute extra period as they had to kill a 2 minute penalty when Frankie Bakrlik was adjudged to have cross checked an opponent on 61.27. The penalty was successfully killed and the game went into penalty shots.

Michal Psurny and Robin Kovar scored and James Archer missed in the first round with Blaz Emersic and Janne Jokila scoring for Lightning to send it into sudden death. Four players from each side then missed their shots before Joe Graham scored what turned out to be the winning shot as Michael Farn missed his for Lightning.

Coach Hand commented after the game:

“Once again we battled hard for the points. All credit to Milton Keynes who came with a system and stuck to it, making things very difficult for us throughout the game. I must applaud all my team tonight for their effort and it was good to see Joe Graham get the winning penalty shot. A four point weekend is just reward for our efforts in Slough and at home this evening.”