Manchester Phoenix cruised past a sickness affected Edinburgh Capitals side on Wednesday night with a 6-1 win that was efficient if not spectacular.
Edinburgh arrived in Manchester with just eleven players including injured Dino Bauba and bolstered their squad by drafting in three players, Alan Hough, Mark Lovell and Richard Hughes from the Flintshire Freeze of the English National League.
After a bright start by the Capitals, Phoenix soon got the scoreboard moving as KC Timmons shot them in front in the sixth minute. Adam Walker with a sweet finish off a Matt Rich feed made in two-nil in the eighth minute and just past the midway point of the period, Anthony Battaglia steered home a third. Edinburgh were in danger of being over-run, but Phoenix didn't press home their superiority and no further scores ensued before the first break.
Edinburgh battled as best they could with their depleted line-up and stunned the home fans by pegging a goal back in the 29th minute as Pavel Kowalczyk completed a good move with a deft finish. The goal though, merely stung the Phoenix into moving up a gear and Timmons on a powerplay and Simon Mangos stretched the Phoenix lead to 5-1 at the second interval.
Phoenix seemed reluctant to keep the goal-scoring going in the final period and it wasn't until the 58th minute that the home crowd roared their approval of another blueline blast from David Vychodil that completed a one-sided score line.
Phoenix player coach Tony Hand said: "That wasn't one of better performances as it's sometimes difficult to get going when you know the opposition is weakened. But, we got the job done, got the two points and we'll look to improve the manner of the performance on Thursday."
Phoenix will give a start in goal to back-up netminder Matt Compton tonight as they again take on Edinburgh at the Altrincham Ice Dome.
Except for a brief three-minutes at the end of a game in Edinburgh back on November 11, 24-year old Compton has waited patiently in the wings as Jason Wolfe has started every game for the Phoenix this season.
Hand said: "Matt deserves his chance to start a game and so he'll play tonight against the Capitals. He knew at the start of the season that he might have a long wait and he hasn't complained once. Now that we're safely in the playoffs, he deserves his chance to show what he can do and at the same time, give Wolfie a bit of a rest. All the players are hoping the fans get behind him and cheer him on."
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