New Blast player/coach Sean Bowers said he wanted his team to be more aggressive and display a stronger killer instinct during home games. It did that last night in the first quarter but had problems after that.

For Bowers, his first game behind the bench wasn't much fun after the early minutes. The Blast controlled play in the opening quarter, but the Philadelphia KiXX took charge with a nine-point second period and cruised to a 12-5 victory before 5,656 at First Mariner Arena.

Bowers took over from Kevin Healey on Thursday and pushed his team to play tougher and avoid the one bad quarter that's hurt it in recent games. But that didn't happen as Philadelphia (7-2) used the big second period to help send the Blast (2-6) to its fifth straight loss.

"Overall, you can't say it was good because we lost," Bowers said. "We came out with a lot of intensity ... and got the first goal. The problem was we only had that goal until the fourth quarter."

"I thought we played hard the whole game, but they hit a little streak there and it took [some] momentum away," said Blast forward Lee Tschantret, who had two assists. "I loved our effort, but we're just not finishing."

Bowers and other players were frustrated afterward by the fact that they misfired on several chances. The Blast came up with scoring opportunities, it just couldn't finish them.

"It's getting harder to score goals every game," Blast midfielder Denison Cabral said. "We have to get together and get the goals."

Paul Wright had given the Blast a 2-0 lead 3:58 into the game, and the team controlled play throughout the first period. However, the KiXX began finding more scoring chances late in the quarter and broke through in the second period.

Joel Shanker tied it 1:12 into the period. Goran Vasic then gave the KiXX a 4-2 lead by tapping a rebound into the empty net for a power-play goal at 2:53. Kevin Sloan added a two-point goal and then the crushing blow, a three-point goal with 3.2 seconds left in the first half for a 9-2 lead.

The Blast drew a little closer when Bowers converted a long three-point shot with 8:24 left in the game.

But the KiXX never wavered, controlling the ball for long stretches and locking up its fourth straight victory on Gary DePalma's three-point goal with 41 seconds left.

"For us, number one right now is finishing," Bowers said. "I think finishing [will] breed confidence for us. I'm sick and tired of saying that the other keeper played well against us."

Philadelphia 0 9 0 3 - 12

Blast 2 0 0 3 - 5

First quarter: 1. Blast, Wright, 2 pt., (Tschantret), 3:58. Penalties - none.

Second quarter: 2. Phil., Shanker, 2 pt., (Sloan), 1:12; 3. Phil., Vasic, 2 pt., (D'Ambra), pp, 2:53; 4. Phil., Sloan, 2 pt. (Bartolomeu), 7:37; 5. Phil., Sloan, 3 pt., 14:57. Penalties: Blast, Scheer, (boarding, served by Santoro), 2:50; Blast, Hileman (5-minute misconduct), 11:53.

Third quarter: No scoring. Penalties: Blast, Cabral (5-minute misconduct), 12:30.

Fourth quarter: 6. Blast, Bowers, 3 pt., (Tschantret), 6:36; 7. Phil., DePalma, 3 pt., 14:19. Penalties: None.

Shots on goal - Phil. 6-9-5-5 - 25; Blast 5-11-3-10 - 29. Power-play opportunities: Phil. 1-for-1; Blast 0-for-0. Shootout opportunities: Phil. 0-for-0; Blast 0-for-0. Goalkeepers: Phil., Pappas, 17 shots, 15 saves; Blast, Hileman, 15 shots, 12 saves; Moumban, 2 shots, 1 saves; Wright, 1 shot, 0 saves. A: 5,656.