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Flames take four points from Manchester
Photograph of new Flames signing Adrian Saul in action against Manchester courtsey of Alan Bone.
The Manchester Phoenix made their first ever visit to Spectrum ice on Saturday night. With the exception of bagging the first goal of the evening, it was not a night they are likely to wish to remember after suffering a 9-2 defeat at the hands of the Flames. In a crazy 15 goal return leg of the weekend double dip against the same side one night later, Surrey’s side opened a 3-0 lead, blew the lead, then opened another 3 goal lead in the late stages, let that one slip again, before Adrian Saul edged an equally back and forth penalty shootout session to pocket the Flames 10th consecutive game by an 8-7 score.
The early goal by Andre Mattsson in the weekend opener at 4:36 was the only one of the session as the visitors took a one goal edge to the first break. The home side roared back in the middle session with 4 unanswered tallies. Martin Masa kicked things off with a shorthanded goal at 23:12 to even the game. He added his 2nd of the night at 27:31 and Lukas Smital fired a cross ice Adrian Saul pass into a wide open cage just 40 seconds after that to open a two goal cushion. Rob Lamey extended the lead further with a goal in the 35th minute. At 44:15 Jez Lundin picked up his own rebound from a point blank shot and deposited the remains into an empty net for a 5-1 home lead. Smital added his second of the evening at 50:45 with a powerplay goal when he tapped home a user friendly Lamey pass to the side of the goal; only needing a minor redirection to find the mark. Masa completed his hattrick a few minutes after that with a man advantage conversion when he one timed the 2nd pass of a classic ‘give and go’ with Milos Melicherik below the goal line. The Phoenix hit back with a Robert Lachowics goal at 55:47 but just over a minute later Lamey scored his 2nd of the night in reply before Rick Plant added the final tally just over 2 minutes from time on the powerplay to secure the result.
In Manchester, Gary Clarke began the scoring at 13:13 with the only goal of the period to give his side a 1-0 lead before Lukas Smital doubled the advantage less than 2 minutes into the following stanza. At 25:58 Martin Masa opened a 3 goal lead, but the Phoenix took little time to suddenly pull the game back in their favour during their 1st comeback display. Tony Hand got their ball rolling just past the midway point of the period. Greg Wood made it a 1 goal game at 35:17 before Ed Courtenay brought them back level mot much over a minute after that. An Adam Walker powerplay goal just seconds later put them in front for the first time on the night with the lead carrying over into the final period. At 41:31 Jez Lundin breathed some air back into the deflated Flames sails when he evened the score at 4 each with a powerplay goal during a Phoenix major penalty. Masa’s 2nd of the night prior to the frame’s 5 minute mark on the same man advantage put the travellers back in front once again. Saul opened another 2 goal lead with a shorthanded goal in the 47th minute and a Smital strike in the 50th minute put his team back on a 3 goal “cushion”. Cue comeback number 2. The Phoenix quickly stormed back with 3 of their own inside the final 10 minutes. James Neil scored a 51:09 to make it 7-5 and Robert Lachowics brought them back to within a goal a couple of minutes later before an Ed Courtenay strike with 4 minutes to play set up a winner take all remainder. A scoreless overtime session left the game to the penalty showdown. Ed Courtenay and Martin Masa traded misses. Luke Boothroyd and Smital each converted their opportunities before Walker and Clarke misses closed the opening round with the game still unsettled. Sudden death shots began with a Tony Hand miss before Saul, the Flames newest member, made the difference to tie down the win.
Flames Head Coach Paul Dixon discussed the weekend:
“When you score 16 regulation time goals over two games in a relatively even spread between the games you do expect to win both. We did that and we are no doubt pleased with 4 points from what was a very important weekend against a top side. Having said that, we obviously can’t go away without some concern for giving up 7 goals, and letting loose a 3 goal lead, not once but twice in exceedingly short periods of time. Strange nights like that do happen, but if we can focus on some of the things that may have contributed to our mistakes we will try to make some corrections during training this week. On Saturday night I thought we were definitely the better team. We played well in all 3 zones and created a very large number of high percentage scoring opportunities that we were able to convert. Sunday, as we expected, Manchester rebounded and played more of the style of game that has them right in the league title race. We knew going in that it was going to be a much more challenging evening, especially on their ice. They deserve a lot of credit for coming back on us both times and the game was anyone’s to win. It could have just as easily been an extra point on their totals so we are just happy that we were able to get the break to have it fall our way.”
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5-3 |
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4-5 |
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1-4 |
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4-4 |
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2-4 |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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4-1 |
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5-2 |
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3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
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- Longstaff stays with Flames
- Flames re-sign Curtis Huppe
- Towe departs Flames
