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Phoenix narrowly beaten in MK

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Manchester Phoenix travelled to Milton Keynes for a rare midweek fixture and included three Deeside Dragons players in the roster.

A series of penalties in the opening minutes affected the flow of the game, and Phoenix had to kill off almost 100 seconds of a 5 on 3 penalty following debatable roughing and holding the stick calls against Michal Satek and James Neil.

After a couple of good openings for Phoenix, MK made the breakthrough at 17:23 when Adam Carr fired under Steve Fone and then an unusual bounce off the boards 21 seconds later gifted Carr his second of the night.

The second period saw a flurry of goals as MK extended their lead through Jordan Cownie at 21:02 and Lewis Hook at 24:03.  However, Phoenix worked their way back into the game after a Tony Hand timeout and Robin Kovar finished well at 26:24, following a pass from Michal Satek.  MK’s Marko Luomala then scored on a breakaway at 31:13 to make it 5-1.

But Phoenix fought back strongly and Matthew Morris grabbed his first Phoenix goal at 32:54, picking up a Jan Platil stretch pass, spinning and then racing in on goal to score, before James Neil slotted in at the back post after good work from Nico Aaltonen at 37:41 to make it 5-3 after two periods.

Phoenix started the third period strongly and Aaltonen was denied by Marr before Cownie grabbed his second of the night at 44:39.  Jacob Corson-Heron picked up a roughing penalty as he tried to get Phoenix back into the game.  Kovar struck the post on the Powerplay but then buried his second of the night following a rebound off the boards at 57:43 to make the final score 6-4.

Phoenix have two home games this coming weekend in Deeside; starting with the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday evening (7pm), followed by the Hull Pirates on Sunday evening (6:30pm).