Cardiff Devils 2 Phoenix 1 (after overtime).

A tough weekend for the Manchester Phoenix saw them pick up three points from their travels to Belfast and Cardiff.

Following on from Friday's impressive win over the Giants, the Phoenix took the Devils to overtime, only for Phil Hill to grab the winner.

A tight game throughout on Saturday night in Cardiff saw plenty of solid physical play from both sides and once again, both goalies on top form. The hometown Devils edged the first period with a late rising slapshot from the point by defenceman Doug MacIver.

The second period was equally tight with no quarter asked nor given by either side, both playing without a full quota of players.

The Devils were missing the influential Mike Prpich and Marc Fulton while Phoenix again had Bruce Mulherin acting as bench coach.

End to end action throughout the session, but Peter Aubry in the Devils net and Stephen Murphy for the Phoenix matched each other save for save.

The third period saw the game turn Phoenix' way as, with Jay Latulippe exiting the penalty box, Luke Fulghum and David Beauregard finally worked the opening for Lucas Burnett to equalise from point blank range in the 49th minute. The final ten minutes of regulation time were played at breakneck pace as both sides sought the winner, but in the end the spoils were shared and the game went to sudden death overtime.

With just 36 seconds separating the sides from a penalty shootout, locally born Phil Hill reacted quickly to a rebound to grab the winner for the Devils.

Phoenix player/coach Tony Hand said: "We knew this weekend would be a tough one. Both Belfast and Cardiff are good teams with lots of speed and strength, so we knew we’d have to play smart hockey to get anything from the games.

"My guys worked very hard and to take three points from the four on offer is a great credit to the effort they put in over both games.

Now we have to prepare for a big game on Wednesday when we go to Sheffield before coming home on Thursday against Edinburgh. The games are coming thick and fast and this is a key time of the season for us."

Phoenix travel to Sheffield on Wednesday before hosting the Edinburgh Capitals in a 7.15pm face-off on Thursday at the Altrincham Ice Dome.