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Phoenix undone by Capitals special teams

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Phoenix 4 – 7 Capitals

Manchester Phoenix coach Tony Hand summed up Saturday’s disappointing home loss to the Edinburgh Capitals describing the game as, "a thoroughly bad night at the office."

With the game delayed by 45 minutes, Phoenix were unsettled and undone by an Edinburgh team determined to avenge a recent home loss to Manchester. And their success was aided by some excellent penalty-killing, short-handed attacking and powerplay completions.

The Scottish outfit gave notice of their intent when they opened the scoring on an 8th minute powerplay as captain Martin Cingel made the Phoenix pay. Phoenix hit back and took a second period lead thanks to the equaliser from KC Timmons and the first of a brace from top marksman, Johan Molin. But the Capitals levelled short-handed through Lou Dickenson and his speed was to torture the Phoenix defence every time he was on the ice. Edinburgh added another short-handed and two further powerplay goals to send the Phoenix to a disappointing home loss.

With the teams meeting again on Sunday in the Murrayfield Ice Rink, player coach Tony Hand knows his team must perform better. "The ice we played on tonight was dreadful, he said before adding, "but, it was the same for both teams and they adapted way better than our guys did. They played a smart game plan at a high tempo and to be fair, they were the better team on the night. We know we can play better and I’ll be looking for a big improvement on Sunday."