Only one game this week for Phoenix and not an easy one at that. Slough have always been a tough team to beat and with the Greener brothers and Watt getting under the skin of everyone and chipping away it always seems to be Phoenix that comes off worse. We have, however, an ex-Slough player on the team, Koulikov so hopefully he has some inside information to help Phoenix beat them.
First Period
Phoenix started the game well and took control early on. With just two minutes gone Phoenix had a great chance from the blue line and Wallace found the metal work shortly afterwards. Slough had their chances too but Fone was looking good in net and managed to make some cracking saves including one with his toe. At 7:14 Duggan broke away and had a great chance as he became one on one with Rockman, but unfortunately the puck didn't find the back of the net. At 7:34, Phoenix's hard work finally paid off and whilst a delayed penalty had been called on Slough, Neil found the back of the net following a great pass by Hand. At 8:31 the first penalty of the game was called on Slough for delay of the game, Phoenix didn't manage to score whilst on the power play (no surprise there!) but Cingel had a few chances in front of the Slough net which I'm not entirely sure how Rockman saved them. At 10:45, Joe Greener was called for cross-checking and this time Phoenix didn't mess it up, Faith scoring a well worked goal with the help of Hand and of all people, Fone! Things started to get physical after this and following handbags at Fone's net, Long and Watt got penalties for slashing and roughing. This didn't seem to phase Phoenix and at 13:53 Hand broke away but his shot was tipped over the netting by the end of Rockman's stick. At 14:25, things started to go horribly wrong for Phoenix and due to a lack of defence, Pliskauskas found his way towards the Phoenix net and easily slotted the puck into the back of the net. Just under two minutes later, it happened again, this time Watt found the back of the net to tie the game 2-2.
After an eventful first period, the game was tied at 2-2. Phoenix started well and had some great chances throughout the period. Phoenix seemed to be good offensively but the defence seemed to have fallen asleep and hence why Slough have managed to tie the game which was pretty much handed to them on a plate. After a shaky start Rockman was starting to look good in net but I think Phoenix deserved more goals...bring on the second period.
Goals - Phoenix 7:37 - Neil, Assist - Hand, Phoenix 10:45 - Faith, Assist - Hand, Fone, Slough 14:25 - Pliskauskas (unassisted), Slough 15:20 - Watt, Assist - Miles
Second Period
Unfortunately for Phoenix, the second period left off where the first finished. Slough were starting to dominate the game and at 26:02 the puck found it's way into the back of the net. Luckily for Phoenix, the goal was disallowed as the Slough player was adjudged to have kicked the puck into the net. At 27:00, Connolly was called for hooking but even that didn't help Phoenix and the defence continued to be lacking. At 30:53 Phoenix started to get their act together, Faith with some great puck work and shot on Rockman which just wouldn't get into the net.
Well a goalless period, Phoenix started shakily but got better towards the end of the period. The skill work was there but they just weren't able to finish and it was getting very frustrating. Fone and Rockman were doing a great job at both ends of the ice. So as the game is still tied at 2-2, all to play for in the third.
Third Period
The third period was full of controvesy. A hooking incident to Hand which was not called helped Slough to take the lead and Pliskauskas to get his second of the night. Despite this Phoenix continued to fight and at 45:43, Hand became one on one with Rockman (again), a cracking save by Rockman who was fully outstretched, denied Hand the chance to tie the game. Phoenix fans didn't have to wait long for us to tie up the game, at 45:14 a cracking pass from Cingel found Koulikov who slammed the puck home. With 4 minutes left in the game, Cingel had the chance to win the game for Phoenix but found the metal work (we are doing that a lot this season!) After this the referee seemed to have a bit of a meltdown, calling penalties that shouldn't have been called and missing ones right under his nose, some of which the Greener brothers were laughing about because they were getting away with it. One that he did manage to call was delay of the game on Watt for knocking the net off to stop play because the puck was loose too close to the net for his liking. Unfortunately for Phoenix, Faith was called for hooking which from where I was sitting wasn't even close. The third period ended 3-3 and into over time we went.
Goals - Slough 43:01 - Pliskauskas, Assist - Carlon, A.Greener, Phoenix 45:14 - Koulikov, Assist - Cingel (shorthanded)
Overtime
Due to the fact that the referee had put Faith in the penalty box for nothing more than a tap, Phoenix started overtime with only three players and it didn't take long for Slough to finish the game off with a goal from Davies
So at the end of the game Phoenix come away with one point and if we are going to lose it's better getting a point than nothing at all. Phoenix seemed to start the game really well and they were dominating Slough, but yet again we seemed to go downhill once we had the lead and then Slough made their move. Slough were their usual chippy selves and once Rockman had found the groove he was unstoppable, granted Fone was good in net too and kept us in the game a few times. The referee had a shocking third period which didn't help Phoenix and if it hadn't have been for the call to Faith we may have been able to take them in overtime, then again if Cingel hadn't missed that last shot it would have been game over. I'm not sure Watt deserved man of the match (neither did most of the Phoenix fans) especially with him knocking the net off but to be fair he was pretty much all over the ice and in most of the critical play.
Goal - Slough (didn't catch the time) - Davies, Assist - Calder, A.Greener
Final Score - Phoenix 3 - Slough 4
MOM - Phoenix - Duggan, Slough - Watt
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