News

Phoenix let big lead slip in playoff quest

Tweet

After cruising into a three-goal lead first period lead on Saturday night, Manchester Phoenix failed to maintain their superiority and allowed the Basingstoke Bison to rescue a valuable point.

Mika Skytta in the 15th minute added quickly to a Darcy Anderson brace of goals in the 9th and 13th minutes the Phoenix came out all guns blazing in this vital Elite League encounter. But, the home side struck back before the first break through Steve Moria and Darren Hurley to put the crowd back on the edge of their seats. A scoreless second period early stages of the third has Phoenix thinking in terms of two vital points before Joe Ciccarello struck with just over five minutes left in regulation time to earn a tie and force overtime. Neither side could break the deadlock and neither will be happy with just a point in view of the Cardiff Devils win over the Coventry Blaze.

Head coach Paul Heavey noted, “we have mixed emotions after tonight – we got a great start and it really looked promising. But I think we took our foot off the gas and relaxed a little mentally, and allowed them to come back at us a little too quickly. We had the better of the second period and should have made more of the chances we made. They pressured us in the third and it paid off for them – a bit of a fluky goal taking a deflection. Both teams played desperation hockey and did what they had to do.”

Commenting on the return to the line-up of captain George Awada, Heavey added, “George played well for us and gave us another option. He’s still not 100%, but he played hard and it was good to see him back out there. We’re still missing Mike Lankshear and so Rick (Brebant) dropped back on defence again and we moved Mark Thomas up front. The boys are battling hard and it’s good to see everyone contributing.”