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Phoenix left to rue missed chances

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Manchester Phoenix slipped to a 4-2 defeat on Sunday night against the Guildford Flames, despite creating a host of chances.

Guildford got off to the perfect start as the visitors immediately won the puck on the boards and a shot from Jens Eriksson bobbled in after just thirteen seconds.  Despite Guildford having the majority of shots, it was Phoenix who created the best scoring chances.  Roman Malinik saw a rebound effort well saved, Robin Kovar just missed with a wrap-around attempt, Scott Bailey was denied on the powerplay and Jakub Langhammer fired straight at Joonas Kuusela when well placed.

The second period began in a similar vein as Guildford doubled their lead at 25:14 when Andrew Hemmings tucked away a rebound, but a spell of concerted Phoenix pressure was rewarded as Langhammer scored with a backhanded effort through traffic at 28:50.  Guildford then had forward Matij Kralj ejected for high sticking, and despite a couple of good openings, Phoenix were unable to take advantage of the five minute powerplay.

Phoenix continued to create chances in the final period and Malinik saw another effort saved before Eriksson bundled in his second of the night at 44:23.  The bounces continued to go against Phoenix as a couple of deflections went just past the post but a deserved second arrived as Kovar did well to keep the puck in the zone before feeding Bebris, and his centring pass was finished off by Malinik at 48:53.  The last goal of the game unfortunately went to Guildford at 51:57 following another scramble which was finished off by Hemmings.

Phoenix are at home next Sunday evening against the Basingstoke Bison, with a 5pm face-off in Blackpool.