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Phoenix comeback falls short

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Manchester Phoenix were unable to register their first win of the season as the Milton Keynes Lightning came away from Fylde with a 3-1 win.

The visitors got on the scoreboard early on as Mikolaj Lopuski fired past Steve Fone at 2:05, and Fone had to be at his best in the opening stages of the period to prevent further damage.  Phoenix came back into the game, and a centring pass from Ben Wood came back off the crossbar as the home side pressed for an equaliser.  Late in the period however, Phoenix lost the puck on the boards allowing a two-on-one opportunity which was converted by Lewis Hook.

Phoenix regrouped and pulled a goal back just 15 seconds into the second period as Marek Indra set up Joni Tuominen to fire past the MK netminder from the point.  The turning point of the game proved to be a controversial penalty after MK’s Frantisek Bakrlik was called for hooking, Phoenix’s Indra also received a penalty for diving.  On the resulting 4-4 situation, Michael Farn set up Hook to bag his second of the night.

The final period saw few chances as MK’s organised defensive shape limited Phoenix to a few shots on goal, whilst MK were equally frustrated at the other end of the ice.  Young defenceman Lewis Baldwin picked up the man-of-the-match award for Phoenix following another assured display.

Phoenix are at home next Saturday evening against the Bracknell Bees, with a 5pm face-off in Blackpool.